Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, A Novel
by Gramm485
Summary: This is RE Code: Veronica X rewritten as a novel. I am writing it from a real life perspective, so several in game concepts like item boxes won't be used. Chapter 20 is up.
1. Chapter 1

Several gunshots echoed down the hall. Claire Redfield winced as bits of shrapnel rebounded off the wall and onto her. She didn't have time to look at the gunmen as she sprinted down the service hall, desperately trying to stay out of their sights. It sounded as if there were two, maybe three pursuers, judging by the shouting voices commanding her to surrender. Every so often, Claire would pass a pulsing red light, another indication of the alarm she had set off. She was coming to a bend in the hallway. Another volley of automatic gunfire rang out, peppering the wall next to her. More voices behind her.

"_They would sound a lot more convincing if they weren't trying to shoot me," _she thought to herself. Claire was running so fast she could not return fire. She had shot one already, but more guards had swarmed her before she was able to escape. Her Browning BDM handgun was tightly clasped in her right hand as she ran, since she never got a chance to holster it.

Claire was several feet from the bend at the end of the hallway when the world around her exploded in a blinding white light. She gasped in surprised and slid to a halt. Her momentum almost carried her through the plate glass window in front of her. Raising both of her arms to shield her eyes from the dazzling glare, she caught a glimpse of what was on the other side of the window. She briefly saw the outline of a helicopter, with it's spotlight pointed directly at her. She didn't need to see the Umbrella logo stamped on it's side to know why it was here. Movement on the side of the helicopter caught her eye. A mini-gun leveled itself at her. The barrels began to spin.

Claire's heart caught in her throat as she let out a small squeak of fear.

"_Shit...No!_" her mind cried. Claire turned on the spot and rushed back. She caught a glimpse of something as she turned, her eyes adjusting back into darkness as she turned away from the helicopter's blinding light. It was one of the guards that was chasing her. She brushed into a second as she saw a passageway on her left. The guards tried to copy Claire's movement, but as she dove for the doorway, the helicopter pilot's finger had tightened on his trigger. Hundreds of bullets rained into the building. The pieces of metal, wood, and plaster obscured the blood and bone spewing from the two guards being riddled with bullets. The doorway Claire leaped for disappeared, leaving a large, irregular shaped hole.

Claire clambered to her feet. She had dropped her firearm when she dove; it now lay several feet in front of her. She scooped up her gun and took off again. She ran past doors and doors of which seemed to lead to offices. She was now on the outer edge of the building. Her body had begun to feel the effects of fatigue. Her legs were aching with pain, both from running and from the previous acrobatics. She breathed heavily as she continued on her way. Through the blinds on the window to her left, she saw a shimmering glow. The helicopter was back, the thin blinds casting blades of light across Claire as she ran. The pilot opened fire again, and the wall next to her collapsed, the bullets from the mini-gun penetrating the following wall. Despite the gunfire, Claire stayed on her feet, summoning more strength to keep running. The trail of bullets followed her, cutting into the building. She leaped through a second doorway in front of her.

As she sailed through the air, Claire closed her eyes and prayed that the helicopter could not target her again. There was no telling where she would land, and if she would be in any condition to move. She opened them again and saw the ground rushing at her. One of her legs caught the bottom of the stairs she just jumped down, sending her into a roll. Her ankle twisted, and she let out a cry of pain. Miraculously, she completed the roll and despite her injured ankle, stumbled awkwardly to her feet. Her breath stopped short. In front of her were two or three dozen fully armed guards. Most had automatic weapons.

Claire stood completely dumbfounded. She ran right into a trap. There was nothing she could do. She raised her hands slowly, beaten. The guards began to slowly advance on her. Perhaps they were a little afraid of her, since she had outwitted them so far. Claire couldn't tell. Their faces were blank and emotionless, like the faces of all those she had seen who worked for Umbrella. As they marched on her, she spotted a gap in between two of them. Behind them were several tanks, marked **Flammable**, with bright red flame warnings that contrasted against their dull gray exterior.

"_Maybe, just maybe...I'm not going to let them take me that easily." _Claire thought. Her Browning was still clasped in her hand. She slowly loosened her grip. The gun fell, free falling in a slight spin. Her intent was disguised by her situation. The guards saw her surrendering, but what Claire was doing was completely unpredictable. Claire counted half a second in her head then collapsed at the knees, her right hand reached out and snatched her handgun out of the air before it hit the ground. She hit the ground and pressed her body into the floor. Sprawled on her back, she aligned the sites of her gun on the tanks and pull the trigger three times. All three shots hit home. An explosion rocked the room. The flames enveloped the guards. There brief cries didn't echo as the force of the explosion liquefied their organs and crushed their bones. Claire rolled onto her stomach and covered herself with her arms as yet another shower of debris assaulted her. The room was silent. The only thing audible was the crackling of fire. Claire lifted her head and saw a few of the bodies were still moving, but then went still. She tried to get up, the pain in her body racking her joints

She was propping herself up when she heard a new sound over the fire. It was a dull metallic 'THUNK', coming closer. "_Footsteps...,_" she realized. Claire fell back, leaning on her left arm and stuck her gun at the sound. Equally, a gun was shoved in her face. Claire stared at it briefly, then moved her eyes to look to the owner, but first she saw her gun. The slide was stuck back. She was out of ammunition, and his gun wasn't. The man holding the gun had dark skin and hair. He looked Mexican, or from somewhere else in Latin America. He had come down the stairs she had previously jumped. If it wasn't for the I.D tag hanging from his belt, Claire would have never guessed he worked for Umbrella. The man looked Claire in her eyes.

"Don't move," was all he said.

Claire knew she was finished. She dropped her gun, and the man quickly grabbed her wrist and turned her over, slapping a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. Claire's face was buried in the dirt and metal of the explosion. She was exhausted, and could barley move at all, let alone try to escape handcuffed.

"_I couldn't have lasted much longer,"_ she thought. "_All I want now is to get some sleep. Although I might be getting more of that than I realize._" The man grabbed her shoulder and propped her into a kneeling position. This was short lived, however, as Claire's suspicions came true. Something struck her in the back of the head, and sent Claire into the blackness of unconsciousness.

_** 10 days later...**_

Rough hands on both of Claire's arms guided her blindly somewhere. Her shoulders were aching from her arms being cuffed behind her back. A brown sack was pulled over her head, obscuring her vision completely. At the start of her transfer, she was boarded onto a helicopter. After a lengthy flight, Claire had no clue where they were. The bag was placed on her head before they took off, and she didn't even know the direction in which they left. All she could sense was the cool air as the exited the helicopter. After descending a flight of stairs and entering a building, she heard a metallic rattle. One of the hands shoved her forward, and she fell to her knees. The hands moved to her wrist, where they undid the cuffs, then sharply yanked the bag off of her head. Claire blinked like an owl, and shook her head, trying to loosen her brown hair from it's matted mass. Thankfully, she always kept it in a ponytail. She had a second to glance around. She was in a prison cell. A very _dirty_ prison cell. A voice spoke to her from behind.

"Your identification number is WKD4496. Welcome to your new home," said the voice. The last part was said with a hint of sneer in the voice. Claire turned around to retort, and promptly received the butt of a rifle slammed against the back of her head. Claire grunted and fell forward. As her vision blurred, she heard a different voice, speaking to the first.

"Her name is Claire Redfield. We caught her trespassing in our Paris lab facility ten days ago. She apparently infiltrated the complex looking for her lost brother, Chris Redfield, one of the surviving members of RPD's famous 'S.T.A.R.S' teams."

"_Chris..._" was the last thing Claire thought as she once again slipped unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

_Leon S. Kennedy was showing Claire how to load the M79 grenade launcher in his hands._

_"You slide the lever over to open the chamber," the young police officer stated. His gloved hand demonstrated and the gun broke apart. "Slide the round in and close it. The safety will go on by itself, so be sure to turn it off." Leon closed the launcher and held it against his shoulder. "Hold it tightly against your shoulder, or else you'll be thrown back. Do NOT use it within 100 yards, or you'll get hurt." He handed it to Claire, who took it with a trembling hand._

_Leon was sitting on a trashed desk in the Raccoon City Police Department. His face and uniform was speckled with blood. Luckily, he found Claire just before she was attacked by the townspeople. Leon himself had been attacked. Only, the townspeople of Raccoon City weren't normal. They were all dead, Leon was sure of it. He had seen the decomposing flesh falling off their bodies as they approached him. No living person could survive the bullets he shot into them again and again. He and Claire had escaped by gunning through the groups of undead. Their pistols weren't enough to stop them all. He had no choice but to give a dangerous weapon like a grenade launcher to an inexperienced civilian. They would need the firepower, and his hands would be full with the shotgun propped against the desk._

_Leon was worried about Claire. The young girl sat on a chair in front of him, staring at the grenade launcher he had given her. He thought that she might break down under the circumstances, but she stayed strong, even though she still showed fear._

_She had said she came to find her brother, Chris, but they had arrived at the RPD to find it ransacked, void of any life, except the undead wandering its halls. They had found one living human, an officer of the city, who helped them get to the S.T.A.R.S office where they now sat. _

_"About two months ago, there was this incident involving zombies located in the outskirts of this city," the cop said. He was badly injured, suffering from numerous bites and cuts, and losing blood. "Chris and the other S.T.A.R.S members discovered that Umbrella was behind everything." Umbrella was a massive pharmaceutical corporation that had its products in everything, ranging from aspirin, to high-tech computers and software. It ruled the stock market, and had an iron grip on society._

_"No one believed them," the cop had continued. "Not longer after that, all this started to happen." He gave them his key to unlock the RPD's doors. Leon and Claire didn't find Chris, but they did find his diary. There was mention of what happened on the S.T.A.R.S' last mission. Something involving a virus called the T-virus. Apparently he escaped with several of his comrades and went to Europe. He wrote that he did it to protect Claire. _

_Claire read the last line on the last entry again:_

_"Please forgive me Claire…"_

Claire woke with a start. She was lying face down on the cell floor. She heard a muffled roar, then a muted explosion. Something was happening outside. More roars, followed by explosions echoed above her. They were getting closer.

"_I must be underground, judging by the sound,_" she thought as she raised her body up by her arms. The room shook slightly from whatever was going on. Then the lights went out. The single bulb hanging from the ceiling didn't provide much light anyway. It must have been night, because the room was pitch black save for the moonlight coming through a single window. The explosions faded away. There was no sound at all, save for a leaky pipe somewhere. Claire rose to her feet. Her body was starting to regain its feeling after her forced nap. She was now aware of the dull ache in the back of her head. She raised her hand to her head and felt a crusty substance. She looked in the dark and saw little black specks.

"_Dried blood,_" she conclude and wiped it off on her jeans. A new ache drew her attention away from her head. A sharp pain was nagging from just below her shoulder, the side she was laying on when she woke. She opened the pocket on her vest and pulled out the source: the lucky family lighter, given to her by Chris.

"_How did they miss this_?" she wondered. "_They frisked me thoroughly when we left_." Claire didn't have time to ponder an answer. She heard a new sound over the leaky pipe. It was slow, uneven footsteps, steadily growing louder. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to locate them. Her icy blue eyes had dilated, and were steadily growing adjusted to the gloom. They located the source: a door that had been left ajar. A figure was coming through it, slouched over and clutching it's side. Remembering that haunting silhouette from Raccoon city, Claire let out a shuddering breath through her lips. Trying to be quiet as possible, she backed away from the cell bars, sinking further into the shadow. The figure stopped at the cell door and began to fiddle with the locking mechanism.

Slowly, Claire thumbed open the lighter in her hand. It made an audible 'click' as the hinge stretched. Claire slid the thumbwheel, and the wick ignited, bathing Claire, the figure, and the cell in a bright yellow light. Claire gasped and shrank back.

The figure was the Latin American man who captured her in Paris


	3. Chapter 3

The man opened the cell door. He cocked his head away from the cell. It was an invitation out. Claire watched, apprehensively, but he did nothing more. He shuffled away and sat heavily into a chair behind the guards desk. He groaned as he leaned forward so he could reach into his back pocket. Procuring a small medicine bottle, he shook it. No sound emitted from it; it was empty.

"Perfect!" he snarled. He threw the bottle across the room, where it landed on the floor. The plastic made a hollow rattle as it bounced along the floor. He sighed and turned his attention to Claire. "Go on, get out of here. This place is finished." he said. "I don't know, it might have been a special forces team. But in any case this prison has been taken over, the troops have been wiped out."

"What are you saying?" Claire asked cautiously. She was still thinking this might be a kind of sick game. Umbrella had done far worse. But Claire looked closer in the light that her lighter was casting. The man was shot through the gut, near his left hip. She could see the entry wound and the blood seeping into his white shirt. He was seriously hurt.

The man leaned back in his chair. "You're free to leave the complex," he said in an exasperated way, almost as if she was stupid. "But you may as well know, you have no chance of getting off this island."

"And what about you, what are you going to do?" she asked him. The man chuckled lightly.

"Don't worry about me." he said. He put his head back and closed his eyes. For a moment, Claire thought he was dead. But no, she could still see him breathing. Still holding the lighter in front of her, she exited the cell. First she went over to the discarded bottle. She crouched and picked it up. She could only make out the word "**Hemostatic**" on the label in the bad light. She tossed it back on the floor and looked back at the man. He had captured her and brought her to this place, and pistol whipped her in the back of the head. Plus, he worked for Umbrella, which was no plus at all. But still, he came and let her out. If he had died, what would have happened to her? Claire tried not to think about it. She would keep her eye out for some of this Hemostatic medicine. It was the least she could do.

Claire turned to exit the room. As she passed the desk, she spotted something on the desk. It was a sheathed knife. Claire glanced back at the man before quietly taking it off the counter. If this was a prison, and if it had been attacked, she would need something to defend herself. Next to the knife she spotted a clipboard. On the bottom of the sheet was her name. She paged through several of the pages. It was a prison manifest. On the bottom was the name of the current jailer. Rodrigo Juan Raval. So that's who the man was. It had to be him. She slipped the knife's belt loop onto her belt, then pulled out the blade. It shined dully in the light of her lighter. It was a standard combat knife, used by professionals.

Claire exited the room. The power was out in the hall, too. The light of her lighter reflected off of many pools splattered on the floor. "_This building sure does leak a lot,_" she thought, remembering the pipe. She kept her lighter out; she didn't feel like tripping on anything. As she proceeded on her way, Claire shivered. The hall was drafty, and her arms were already cold. Her red Valkyrie vest kept her body warm, but she wished she had worn something other than a t-shirt under it. Then there was the issue with her bare midriff. She always thought her clothes were practical, yet stylish. But then again, her current situation was not exactly practical

The hallway bent and turned into a flight of stairs. Claire took a deep breath and started to climb. She shut the lid on her lighter and stuffed it back into the pocket on her vest. She would have to be careful. Her vest would stick out like a sore thumb in a place like this. She still didn't know what went on above her, and Rodrigo hadn't given her any details either.

The stairs simply opened up into sky. There was no door or gate. Clouds had moved in, covering the moon and stars. A light rain had started, not helping Claire's situation anymore. She rounded a corner and found evidence of the attack.

A truck had crashed through a wall. It was burning from the inside. Claire approached it and peered inside. The fire had spread to the interior. The upholstery and dashboard were burning and melting. The body of the driver was sandwiched between the steering wheel and the seat, which had been crushed forward. His flesh had already been set ablaze in place, revealing charred muscle and tendons. Claire shut her eyes and turned away from the truck.

"_Ugh..I didn't need to see that," _thought Claire. She hurried away from the truck. Just as she left, the truck's fuel tank exploded. Claire was flung off of her feet and onto her face. She shook her head, got back to her feet, and tried to wipe the damp dirt from the front of her jeans and vest. She turned around to survey the explosion. The fire had now pooled around the truck and bits of hot metal lay steaming on the ground. The burning body had been wrenched from its seat and now hung out the windshield. Claire froze on the spot.

The driver's body twitched and slid out. It writhed on the ground shortly before unsteadily climbing to it's feet. As it righted itself, it let out a guttural moan. It's eyes were glazed over with pus as it spotted Claire and started to slowly shuffle towards her. It's entire body was burnt, and pockets of muscle were showing where the flesh had fallen off.

Claire's eyes widened as the monstrosity approached her. This couldn't be happening to her, not again, not after Raccoon City. Her hand moved to the knife at her hip. She took a few steps to distance herself from the zombie. Her foot caught on something and she fell on her butt. By now it was almost upon her. She tried to slide back away with her hands, but she felt something cold and wet grab her wrist.

Another decomposed corpse had latched onto her arm. It had appeared from nowhere, crawling on it's belly. Panicked, Claire shrieked and pulled her arm away. The zombie let go easily and it fell on it's face, only to resume it's crawling. Claire scuttled away on her behind, then turned over to get on her hands and knees. She looked in front of her. Another corpse was rising to its feet. She looked for a way to escape. Two more were rising from holes in the ground. Claire finally realized where she was. She was in a cemetery, and the decaying bodies were pulling themselves out of their open graves. She was now surrounded, and the contestant moaning soon drowned out Claire's whimpering. The one that had grabbed her wrist had gotten to it's feet. It now stood over her and lunged. Claire had turned to look just in time. She flung herself forward, away from it's gaping mouth. She kicked at it as she scrambled away, and got to her feet. Her legs were shaking. On the verge of hyperventilating, Claire tried find an exit. She spotted a door built into the wall of the graveyard.

Her hand drew the knife from its sheath and she charged forward, slashing wildly at the first zombie in front of her. She cut it across the face. Thick blood oozed from it's punctured eye as it dumbly groped for her. Claire stumbled as she brushed by it and ran straight into another one. This one grabbed shoulder and neck and turned its head to take a bite of her neck. Claire cried out and pushed with all of her strength. The zombie's decaying arms released her and it fell over a grave marker. Claire was almost to the door. One more undead stood in her way. She stabbed it in the chest and tried to run past it. The corpse didn't react to the knife, but was unable to catch hold of her. Claire hit the door in her run, fumbled with the latch with a shaking hand and pulled it open. She quickly slipped through. As she shut it, she caught a glimpse of the zombies shuffling towards the door in which their meal had just escaped. She slammed the thick door hard and put her back to it. She slid down the face and sat at the foot of it. Claire tried to calm herself, but she was still breathing very hard and fast, and now she had broken out in a cold sweat.

She shivered, both from the cold and from fear. It had started to rain harder, and Claire was almost soaked. Her jeans were stained with mud, and her vest had a few lines of blood streaked on it. It took her a few minutes to calm herself. Her breathing returned to normal. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"_I'm stronger than this. After Raccoon City, I can handle this. I was just taken by surprise, and I was ill equipped,"_ she thought.Claire shook the faces of the undead from her mind. She was right. Raccoon City had made her stronger. Now that she knew what she was in for, Claire opened her eyes. The T-virus had been released again, on this prison complex. She had to survive and escape.


	4. Chapter 4

Claire stood up. The doorway she had come thorough was almost blocked by an overturned truck. She listened carefully, but all she heard was the rain. No moaning or shuffling feet. Her knife was still in her right hand. Her fingers were white from gripping the knife. Her left hand took the knife and she flexed her right. Her fingerless brown leather biking gloves creaked from their dampness. She wiped the blade off on the ground and slid it back into it's sheath.

Claire walked around the truck. A loud snap resounded in the area and a bright spotlight turned on her. Claire shielded her eyes. Automatic gunfire rang out and peppered the ground at her feet. Claire grunted and fell back once again on the seat of her pants. She scrambled around the truck for cover.

"_Dammit! Whoever is using that thing doesn't know what the hell they're shooting at!" _Claire thought angrily. The bullets rattled against the truck and around the corner she had fled. Claire looked down, and just to the side of her leg was an outstretched arm that thankfully wasn't moving. The owner was somewhere underneath the truck. About a foot from its reach lay a handgun. Claire snatched it up and pulled back the slide. She saw a bullet load into the chamber. There was a pause in the gunfire. Claire swung her arm out, trying to keep her body behind the truck. She fired off a round. The spotlight shattered, and Claire could clearly see the tower where the shooter was camped out. She fired twice more. A voice cried out.

"Aaah! Wait, WAIT! Don't shoot!" it yelled.

Claire kept her gun trained on the tower. She heard the voice of a young man. "Who are you?" she barked.

There was a pause. Claire could hear him talking to himself, but she couldn't make out the words. Then it spoke again.

"Oh great! Wait right there, I'm coming over!" he said. He waved to her. Claire got retracted her gun to her shoulder and stood up. He climbed down the tower, and jumped down. Claire pointed her gun at him, her left hand cupped under the handle to steady her aim, just like Leon had shown her.

The figure approached her. It was indeed a young man, about her age.

"Eh, sorry about that little misunderstanding," he said. He tried to brush Claire's gun away. "But I thought you were another one of those mon-"

"Shut up!" Claire snarled and batted his hand away with her gun, then stuck it in his face. She circled around him, putting her back to the open yard they stood in, and putting his to the overturned truck. "Make one wrong move, and I'll shoot," she threatened.

He grinned, as if he thought she was joking. "Relax beautiful, I said I was sorry," he said. Against the light of the burning truck behind him, Claire saw his features better. He had short red hair, with a few of his bangs falling over his eyes. He had a black jacket with short sleeves. Guessing by the fabric, it must have been part of the prison uniform. He wasn't wearing the full uniform, as he had procured a pair of military fatigues. Claire stood a full head taller than him. He introduced himself. "My name's Steve. I was a prisoner on this island, and I'm guessing your not from Umbrella either."

"No. I'm Claire. Claire Redfield," she replied, lowering her gun.

"Claire...hmmm...nice. I'll remember that. Hey, I heard there's an airport around here. Once I find it, I can finally escape from this crazy island," he said. Without skipping a beat, he simply said "See ya," and turned to jog away.

Surprised, Claire jogged after. "Hey wait up!" she called. He stopped and turned around, and raised a finger.

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Tsk," he said wagging it. "I don't want you following me lady. You'll only slow me down." He took off again.

Claire stood, irritated. "_What a jerk,_" she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Claire contemplated following Steve, then decided against it. First she took a look around. Right away, a large gate caught her eye. It had to be the prison entrance. She jogged over to it. There was a simple latch holding it shut. Claire tugged on it. It didn't move. She clicked the safety on her gun, and stuck it in the back of her jeans. She grabbed the latch with both arms and pulled. Still nothing. Claire looked a little closer. There was a hole on part of the latch. Using her lighter for light, she looked and saw a small circular engraving about the size of a disc. It was an eagle. Claire groaned and shut her lighter. Umbrella sure loved it's flair for the dramatic. Claire knew how the door was locked. She had to find the plate that fit into the gate. It all seemed a little elaborate for a prison, but Claire guessed they had reasons.

Claire removed her handgun from its place in her jeans. She would need more ammo. She examined her gun closer. The serial number and model was stamped on the metal. It was a Beretta, model M93R. Claire didn't know much about guns, but she knew enough. She popped out the clip and removed a bullet. It was a nine millimeter. It would do just fine. She placed it back in the clip and loaded it again.

Claire cautiously searched a few of the bodies lying about the yard. She didn't want one to sit up and bite her. She checked the belts of some. She found some matching spare clips, fully loaded. She checked them, and they matched the one loaded in her gun. She stuck these in her back pocket, and took off in the direction that Steve left.

She opened the door slowly and poked her head in, followed by her gun. The way ahead was clear. It was raining harder than ever. "_I've got to find some shelter, and maybe a coat or a towel,"_ she thought. She was freezing. As she progressed, she noticed some of the drainage grates on the bottom to the building to her right were torn out. A body was sticking out of one. As she approached it, it was abruptly dragged into the hole by something unknown. Feeling more than a little apprehensive, Claire had the desire to get out of this area as fast as possible. She spotted a door on her right, which was sitting on a small wooden porch. She ran up the stairs and entered. She was in a mess hall, or some other communal dining area. A zombie was lumbering on the other side of the table. It ignored her. A second was standing in another area just to her left, but up a small set of stairs.

Movement from the corner of Claire's eye saved her from the one on the other side of the door she had just opened. Claire leveled her gun just as it raised it's arms to grab her. She shot it through the head. The back of it's skull exploded and pasted against the wall behind it. It fell over and became motionless. Claire made a face. They still creeped her out horribly, and shooting them wasn't pleasant either, but she was fine. The gunshot attracted the one on the other side of the room. It started to walk around the table. Claire circled the table too, so she was always on the opposite side. She slipped through the other door in the room and shut it behind her.

Clair was in the living quarters. Rows of bunks stretched out in front of her. Several had bodies strewn in them. As quietly as possible, she walked down the row, trying to keep an eye on all the corpses. She heard a loud banging sound. As she neared the end, she came to a t-intersection. On her right was the source of the banging. A zombie was pressed against a window, and feebly hitting it with it's fists. Claire walked left and came to a set of showers. A horribly disfigured body was slumped in one of the stalls. Claire covered her mouth with her hand. It was wearing a soldiers uniform. Claire thought about searching it for ammunition, but really didn't want to stick her hands in the mess. She turned around to leave. As she passed the window and the zombie, a box on the windowsill caught her eye. It was a box of bullets. Claire took them and read the label. They were nine millimeter rounds. It was even the same brand she saw in Raccoon City.

The window shattered. The zombie fell inside, landing half on top of Claire and half on top of the window frame. Claire cried out as it grabbed at her vest. She pushed at it with her boots, and drew her gun. In her haste she fired three times. The first shot hit it in the head, and the other two shots buried itself in the remaining heap. Claire stood up and saw the corpse from the shower lumbering towards her. She fired twice and it took the both the shots in the chest. It unsteadily leaned against the wall before straightening itself. Claire's gun was empty. She ejected the clip and slid a fresh one from her back pocket. She clumsily loaded it in, missing the slot at her first stab. It slid in, but before Claire had a chance to release the slide, a hand grabbed her ankle. A corpse from the bunks had slithered over and was now trying to bite her. Claire jerked her leg back and soccer kicked it in the face. A loud snap complemented it's neck breaking.

The zombie she just shot had resumed its attack. Claire released the slide on her gun, chambering the first shot of the fresh magazine. She shot it again, this time through the head. It fell over. Breathing hard, Claire surveyed the situation. She was fine, but her lower back was sore from her fall. She wiped blood away from a shallow scratch on her arm from broken glass. The zombie that had broken through the window was also wearing a soldiers uniform. At it's belt were two pistols. Claire took one out. They were different from her handgun. They were jet black and had long black magazines along the top. Claire held it in her hand. The gun's magazine extended halfway to her elbow. Judging by the size of the barrel, they were higher caliber than nine millimeter. She didn't know the make or model.

Claire worked on removing the holster from the dead zombie. She would need the firepower. She slipped it on, and slid the new guns in their place. They each sat on one of her hips. The holster was a little loose, but it would stay on. She picked up the box of bullets she had dropped and stuffed these in her front pocket for easy access. With her current attire, she wouldn't be able to carry much ammunition. Claire exited the bunk and left through the mess hall, once again dodging the roaming zombie. She hadn't gotten a chance to dry off, which didn't matter, because it was still pouring outside. She continued to jog around the building and came to a door. On her right was a chain-link fence. She saw the door she had just entered. Claire rolled her eyes.

"_If this was open, I wouldn't be so wet from walking all the way around,_" she thought, irritated. Oh well. A little rain wouldn't kill. Claire walked through the door ahead of her.


	6. Chapter 6

Claire was beginning to leave the prisoners area and enter into the guards quarters. The building in front of her seemed less run down, and more office looking. There was a large shutter in front of her as she rounded a corner. A loud crash made her jump.

To her left was a chain link fence. On the other side were several zombies who were pulling at the fence and throwing themselves at it at the sight of her. Claire ignored them after making sure they wouldn't get out. She examined the shutter. There was no way to lift it by herself, so she consulted the panel next to it. The light was on, so there was power. Claire pressed it, but nothing happened. She shrugged and headed into the building through the door next to the shutter.

Ahead of her was a security station. Claire recognized a walkthrough metal detector built into the wall. As she neared it, a small box opened, and a pleasant voice spoke through a speaker.

"Please deposit any metallic items you have in the security box," it requested. Claire frowned. That would take away all of her weapons. Judging by the shutters that were rolled up above the windows and the blast door raised above the entrance, Claire deduced that it was a bad idea to set off the machine. She dropped her knife, guns, ammo, and lighter into the box and stepped through. Through the windows in the hall, she could see a dozen undead outside wandering aimlessly. She came through the other end of the metal detector.

A cluttered table sat in the center of the room. It was covered with papers and files. Sitting on one end was an aerosol can. Claire's eyes lit up. She picked it up. It was a can of First Aid spray. One of Umbrella's more useful products, in Claire's opinion, it could be applied to almost any type of wound, and it would help heal it. Claire shook it and gave the cut on her arm a squirt. Her eyebrow twitched as it stung. The spray formed a protective gel over the cut, and it's disinfectants would sterilize it.

Claire was a little disappointed that she couldn't take it with her, due to the metal detector, but there would be more lying around. A complex looking machine in the corner of the room now piqued Claire's interest. Direct examination proved useless; she had no idea what the hell it did. Her eyes caught sight of the papers on the desk. Rummaging through them, she found a diagram that matched the machine. It was a 3-D duplicator. Apparently, she read, it could scan an item, then reproduce it, given that proper materials were used. She had heard of similar things used in art. A subject was scanned, and the machine could reproduce a flawless miniature statue. Claire tossed the sheets back on the table. She didn't have a use for the machine.

Claire noticed that the other door in the room was ajar. She walked quietly over to it, and slowly pushed it open. Inside, most of the lights were off. A bluish glow was emanating from behind a cubicle. Claire crept inside and hugged the cubicle wall. Whoever was in here wasn't dead; she could hear a computer keyboard clicking. She peeked around the wall and sighed in relief. It was Steve. He was staring at the screen in front of him.

He didn't seemed to surprised to see Claire. He went back to the screen. "Chris Redfield..," he said slowly to himself.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked.

"Chris Redfield...is he a relative of yours or something?" he asked, ignoring Claire's question.

"You mean my brother?" Claire looked at the screen. It had Chris's picture on it. She recognized it as his old Air Force mugshot. He had been dishonorably discharged years ago, back when Claire was still in high school. Sometimes, Chris went a little overboard. But, for as long as she could remember, he had always loved her deeply as a sister and never mistreated her.

"Ah...you're siblings. Well, it seems your brother is under surveillance by Umbrella." Steve said.

"What?" Claire asked, alarmed. If Umbrella was tracking Chris, she had to warn him. Who knew what they would do to him? "I've got to contact Leon and tell him to let my brother know he's being monitored!" she said desperately. Claire took over the computer, and minimized Chris' file. She looked around on the computer desktop until she found a messaging program. "It's a good thing I have access to an outside connection from here." Leon had given her a few different ways to contact him. After they got separated in Paris, Claire was grateful. She typed in his email address and added a message:

_**Leon, it's Claire. I was caught in Paris. I'm in one of Umbrella's prisons. The virus has been unleashed. Don't worry about me. Umbrella is watching Chris. You've got to warn him for me.**_

Steve was busying himself with something in the corner of the room. "Well, that file shows the latitude and longitude of this place," he said, then laughed. "Why don't you send the coordinates to your brother and ask him to come help."

Claire looked down and saw the bright yellow clipboard on the desk. Steve was right. With this, Chris could come and get them out of here! "Thanks!" she said. "I'll do that!" She added the coordinates to the message.

To her surprise, Steve laughed again. "Hey, I was just kidding!" he said. Claire stood up from the computer and stared at his back. He was still doing something to a keypad by a door. "There's no way he could get out here, even if he is your brother."

"Yes he can, I'm sure of it." Claire said defensively.

Steve stopped tinkering. "No way." he muttered. He turned to face Claire. There was hatred in his eyes. "He won't come. You'll end up disappointed if you rely on others. Believe me, I know!" Without any explanation, he stormed out of the office.

Claire stood alone in the room. "What was that all about?" she wondered. She clicked SEND on the email, and a message popped up, confirming the action successful. Chris would come for her. She knew it.


	7. Chapter 7

Claire took one last look at Chris's face, then closed the file. She decided to see if there was anything worth salvaging from the office. She rummaged through the various cabinets and drawers. Nothing useful showed up until she opened the computer desk drawer. Inside was a round medal, made of what looked like gold, or an imitation. On it was stamped an image of an eagle. Claire's heart soared. This had to be the emblem that unlocked the prison gate. She started to exit the room and then stop. Her excitement faded. She couldn't get past the metal detector with this in her possession. She checked the door on the far side of the room. There was a switch next to it. Claire flipped it. The latch turned, but the door wouldn't open. It must have been blocked from the other side.

"_Shit!_" thought Claire angrily as she kicked at the door, which only resulted in a stubbed toe. She had found the key, but had no way to get it out of the building. She considered going through the window in the previous room, but there were too many zombies outside. She wouldn't have enough ammunition to fend them off. She sat down and rubbed her sore foot. Her elbow slid as she leaned on a packet of papers. She read the top page and a bunch of letters stuck out: TG-01. She continued to read. It was a bunch of corporate customer service crap.

"_Thank you for your support blah blah blah...and have succeeded in creating the anti metal-detection alloy TG-01._" it said. Claire read on. Apparently, this metal couldn't be detected in metal detectors. Whatever company this was sent a sample to the prison. The gears turned in Claire's head. The 3-D duplicator. Could she possibly recreate the emblem from this metal? She grinned. Finally, her luck was changing. She left the office and checked out the machine in the next room. She unearthed the the instruction manual to the duplicator. It still had power. Claire smiled again. This would be a snap. She just had to find the truck carrying the TG-01, and she already had a good idea. The burning truck in the graveyard had the metal company's logo on it. She would start there.

"_It's probably still burning. I'll need an extinguisher," _Claire thought. She consulted a map strewn among the papers. There was a fire station marked in the shutter she had passed earlier. Claire tossed the emblem onto the table and jogged through the metal detector, rearming herself at the checkpoint. Once outside she stood before the locked shutter. The zombies behind the fence were once again banging on the gate. Claire ignored the sound and tried to think. She noticed the switch next to it again. The color was different. It had pulsed red, but now it was a steady blue. Claire remembered the switch she had pulled in the office.

"_I must have released it,"_she thought. She pressed it again, and with a metallic clank, it raised open. Suddenly, there was a loud crash. The zombies in the fence had broken the gate. Claire turned to retreat into the garage she had just opened, but two more zombies were waiting for her inside. She had stowed her Beretta in the back of her jeans again. However, she couldn't fire on either group without putting her back to them. Instead, she drew the dual pistols from her belt. She stood, arms apart pointing north and south. She pointed her guns in the general direction of each advancing group and fired. The guns spit out a three round burst. Claire's stronger right arm stayed straight, but her left jumped a bit. One of her volleys caught one fence zombie in the chest. The powerful shot knocked it over. Claire turned her attention to the two in the garage and fired, one gun pointing at each. The top of ones head exploded as the three bullets passed through. The other was shot through the neck, and it simply fell over and twitched. The remaining zombie lunged at Claire, who sidestepped to the left and shot it through the side of the head. The zombie that had fallen over was starting to sit up. Claire kicked it in the face. It's head bounced off the ground an then was still.

Claire holstered her guns. The hot barrels steamed in the rain. Now that the area was secure, she walked back to the garage and went to the fire station. She plucked the extinguisher off the wall. On her way out she caught sight of what else was in the fenced off area. It was a guillotine. Splattered blood at the base indicated that it had been used recently.

"_I didn't know people were still executed this way. I thought they were gassed or lethally injected. But then again, Umbrella might have something to do with it,_" Claire thought. She wondered if that would have been her fate here, had the island not been attacked. She was a survivor from Raccoon City, and she knew that Umbrella's virus caused it. It wouldn't be beyond them to try and silence her. Nothing else was in the fenced in place, save for a door which had a peculiar blue shield inscribed on the front.

Claire headed to the prisoners barracks again. She still didn't have the key to the fence, so she would once again have to go around. She walked along and turned the corner around the building. A loud crash rang out once again. Claire looked and saw a mutilated dog. Most of the flesh was gone, and all she could see was muscle covered in thick, coagulated blood. The dog saw her and gave chase, barking rabidly. Claire turned and ran. She could never hit a target moving that fast. This was another familiar abomination from Raccoon City. Leon had handled these easily, but he had a shotgun, and the training to go with it.

Claire slipped in the mud, but caught herself before she sprawled forward. Her boots made a sucking noise as they came in and out of it. They became heavy with the wet dirt. Claire ran around final turn of the building. The dog was gaining fast. As she ran down the last stretch, she slipped again. The mud seemed to really have it out for Claire as she fell on her hands and knees. Her legs were now covered with it as she scrambled to her feet, cursing. Miraculously, she didn't even drop the fire extinguisher in her hand. She resumed her sprint and got to the door. Without looking back she forced it open and slipped through, shutting it behind her. As she did she heard a growl and a 'THUNK' as the body of the dog slammed against the shutting door.

Claire tried to shake the mud from her hands. It was no use using her jeans as a towel anymore. Both of her legs were solid dirt from the knee down.

"_Well, at least the rain might help wash them clean after a while,"_ she tried to think brightly. Claire broke into a fit of laughter. Outrunning a mutant dog gave her an adrenaline rush. Worrying about her ruined designer jeans should have been the last thing on her mind.

Claire stopped laughing and stood up. A few of the corpses she had looted earlier were beginning to move. Claire jogged passed them before they had a chance to rise. Once inside the graveyard, Claire recognized the same troupe of zombies that had attacked her. The one she cut across the face was nearest to her. They all turned their attention towards her. Claire coolly drew her Beretta and shot each one of them dead. Claire still winced as she shot them. No matter how many times she did it, it bothered her. She figured the genes that had made Chris a soldier skipped her. Claire took a look at the burning truck. She spotted a briefcase near the wreckage.

Using the extinguisher, she made a path to the case. She doused the case thoroughly, and kicked it away with her boot. She let the rain cool it for a minute, then pressed the latch. Inside the case was a square block of gray metal about a half inch thick. A file inside confirmed it to be to TG-01. She closed the case and headed back to the office where the 3-D duplicator was located.

Before entering the prison barracks, Claire slowly opened the door. The dog had moved itself further down the alley. She eyed the fence to her right. She lobbed the case over it. The dog heard the sound and spotted Claire, dashed towards her. Claire flung herself onto the fence and climbed. She was already over the top when the dog reached it. All it could do was bark and jump madly at it. Claire collected her case and proceeded on her way.

After depositing her weapons at the metal detector checkpoint, she removed the metal from the case. True to it's expectations, the alarm didn't go off. Outside, the undead were getting restless. Some of them had begun to bang on the windows as Claire passed. She reached the duplicator and began to read the manual.

15 minutes later, Claire still had her nose in the book, reading to herself and performing the necessary procedures.

"Simply place the material you want scanned onto the tray of the scanner," she muttered. The banging was getting annoying. She placed the gold emblem on the tray, and pressed SCAN. The machine worked its magic. "If you place the material you wish to have converted on the machine, you can begin conversion based on the 3-D data that was scanned," she finished. Claire set the sheet of TG-01 on the end of the machine and clamped it down like the manual indicated. She pressed PROCESS, and the machines arm lowered and began cutting. The cutting laser was to bright to look at, so Claire busied herself by removing her Valkyrie vest and shaking the water off of the red leather. She wiped some dirt off of the '_Let Me Live_' script along the back before putting it back on.

Claire smiled triumphantly. The resulting gray emblem matched the gold one perfectly. She scooped it up and stuffed it in her pocket. In the hall, the sound of broken glass resounded several times. Claire ran to look and saw the zombies sliding into the room through the window. She sprinted down the hall and over their bodies before they could stand. A few made it to their feet before she could escape and tried to grab her. In the resulting struggle, Claire tripped and hit her head. Trying to push the stars out of her eyes, she crawled as fast as she could. She reached the checkpoint, but one had followed her. It pulled itself on top of her and tried to bite. She pushed it away, but her hand slipped on it's wet flesh and it bit her on the forearm. Claire screamed as it bit her arm. She worked her leg up underneath it and pushed it away before it had a chance to take a piece out of her arm. More were shuffling closer from behind it. Hugging her injured arm near her chest, she used her good arm to reach into the security box. Her hand closed around an empty magazine. She hurled it passed detector.

Alarms sounded and lights pulsed as the security system was triggered. The window shutters closed, sealing the openings and trapping entering zombies beneath them. A large blast door shut in front of her just before the undead passed it, sealing them in the hall.

Claire was left to listen to the alarm as she fought against the pain in her arm. She was lying huddled in the fetal position, her leg stomping against the wall in frustration. She was trying not to cry, but tears had already started to flow from the burning pain. Her good arm cradled the bitten one, the palm of her hand covering the bite; she could feel blood seeping into her glove. She felt the emblem dig into her side. She had found a way out, but she was almost eaten alive in the process. How many times would she get lucky?


	8. Chapter 8

Eventually, the pain in Claire's arm died down a little. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She was far beyond the age where she cried from being hurt; she was mostly crying out of anger. She kicked herself mentally for being so careless. She mustered a look at the bite on her arm.

The zombie hadn't managed to take a piece out, but it had bitten hard enough to leave a ring of teeth marks on her flesh. Several of the gouges had long scrapes that had been made when she pushed the zombie off of her. These were speckled with blood, and the bite marks themselves where oozing with it. Claire grimaced; any closer to her wrist and it might have severed a large vein. She wished for the First Aid Spray that was unfortunately sealed behind two blast doors and a mass of walking corpses.

Claire got to her feet and took a deep breath. She regained herself, then pulled her weapons out of the security box. She was short a magazine, but lost no ammunition. She took her Beretta in her hand and proceeded to jog back to the prison gate. At last, it had stopped raining.

As she entered the prison gate yard, she dropped two zombies to be safe. She once again took a look at the latch with the engraving on it. She slipped the emblem out of her pocket and stuck it in the hole, then gave it a tap with her fist. The lock simply sprang open. Claire pulled the latch, then pushed with all of her might on the door. It opened a few feet, and Claire slipped through.

Claire now stood on a long metal bridge. A hundred feet below her, waves crashed over jagged rocks. It appeared that the prison was built on a small rock off of the main island. Something had taken a gouge out of the bridge near the middle, and a jeep was balanced precariously on the edge. Judging by the burnt edges, it might have been a bomb or a missile. Claire opted to take the service catwalk along it's side. She hopped over the railing near the jeep, and carefully walked up to it.

"_I swear to God if this thing collapses..._" Claire thought to herself. She peered inside the jeep, looking for a heavier weapon. Nothing stuck out, so Claire leaned over and checked the glove box. She remembered when Leon told her to look in one back in Raccoon City as they tried to escape in a squad car. Inside it had been a gun. She didn't find one in the jeep, but there was another box of nine millimeter rounds. Claire took these and left the jeep quickly; she had heard a metallic creak under her feet.

At the end of the bridge was a staircase built into the cliff alongside the bridge. Something had exploded at the base of them, for fire was burning on the ground. Claire hopped over and began to climb up the stairs. She felt the bite on her arm. The bleeding had stopped, but it was still hurting. The blood had dried and formed a nasty red smear on her flesh. A nauseating thought washed over Claire. What spread the virus? Leon and herself had been injured plenty of times at the hands of these creatures, but they never succumbed to cannibalism. Perhaps the virus only infected a certain percentage of live people, and had a better chance to infect the dead. Claire had no idea; she didn't exactly do well in biology at school.

Claire reached the top of the stairs. Two zombies were at the top, each one was roaming on the paths of an intersection. In the distance, Claire saw a well lit building. Claire decided to go left, towards the building. She shot down the zombie in front of her and ignored the one on her right. It stood sentry in front of a metal gate and a door. She ran along a wall. Two more zombies were in front of her. She shot one down, and ran out of ammo. She hadn't had the time to reload her spare magazine, and now both were empty. Eying the low stone railing on her left, Claire had an idea. She drew her knife and put her back to the wall. The zombie shuffled over and reached to grab her. Claire pressed the blade against its throat, keeping it's deadly teeth away from her body. Her other arm pushed against its chest. She forced it backward and shoved it against the railing. It teetered against it, trying to regain it's balance. Claire stepped back and delivered a kick to it's chest. The zombie fell over the rail, and Claire her a faint 'splat' as it hit the rocks below.

She stuck her empty gun in her jeans and slid the knife back into the sheath, then drew her twin guns in both hands. She jogged along the wall and up a set of stone stairs. Going through the gate at the top, she found herself in a small courtyard with a cobblestone path.

"_Classy..."_ thought Claire as she jogged down the path. The building was an elegant looking palace, and a fresh change of scenery for Claire, who had had enough of the grimy prison. The front of the palace even had a low row of hedges and flower bed. As she proceeded, another dog bounded out of the hedges. This one wasn't as mutilated as the one in the prison, but it still showed signs of the virus. It's fur was spotted, revealing it's muscles, and it foamed at the mouth. Claire was more prepared this time. She lined up the dog in her sights before it spotted her, and pulled the guns' triggers'. The burst of gunfire struck the dog and shattered the cobblestone as it turned it's attention on her. The dog yelped and fell over. She fired again and it stopped moving with a spray of blood and another yelp. She stepped over the corpse, but then hesitated. The doors of the palace were in front of her, but she didn't think she should enter yet. It might benefit her to look around outside. Steve had mentioned there was an airport. Maybe she could find it right away.

She walked past the doors to the palace and left the courtyard through another gate in front of her. On the other side of the gate was a stairway which led to a large pool. The water was pitch black, and Claire couldn't see the bottom. Jutting out into the pond was a small platform with a pedestal on it. On it was an inscription of a wheel, and a slot to slide something in. Claire ignored it, but didn't put it out of her head completely. She checked underneath stairs. Nothing was there, but there was a map hanging on the wall. It was labeled 'PALACE'. Claire took it and headed back to the entrance of the palace and went through it's doors.

The first room was a richly decorated entry lobby. In front of her was a large reception desk and a staircase along the wall. First, Claire checked the reception desk. A computer was on. There was nothing else. She tried the first door in the lobby. It was a bathroom. It would have been nicely decorated, but the stall doors were smashed, and several of the sinks had been severed from the wall. Water had covered the tiled floor about a quarter of an inch deep, and continued to leak from the open pipes. Claire immediately spotted a first aid cabinet. She hurried over to it and opened it, then breathed a sigh of relief. There was a can of First Aid Spray. She quickly applied it to the bite on her arm. Claire turned her head and dug her teeth into her shirt and arm.

"_God, that hurts like a bitch!"_ Claire's head screamed. The bite felt like it was on fire as the medicinal spray was applied to it. It took a minute for it to die down. She took a small role of bandages from the cabinet and wrapped the wound. Working clumsily, she knotted the gauze and tightened it with her teeth, then cut the trailing end off with her knife. Already, her arm was feeling better.

Claire left the bathroom and tried the other door, but it was locked with no visible key hole. Claire tried her other options; she walked up the stairs. It was odd, she thought, that this place was almost untouched, aside from the bathroom. The prison had been bombed, and there had been gunshot holes peppering the walls.

The stairs turned into a landing. Claire checked the door on her left, up a another small set of stairs. It was locked. An ornate silver crest lined the door. She tried the other door, and found it to be unlocked.

She was in a a secretary's office. She carefully checked it for undead, but there was none. Claire holstered her guns. She sat on a sofa along the wall. She took out the boxes of handgun rounds and took the spare clip from her back pocket, then ejected the empty one from her handgun. She slid each round into the clips until they were full. She used up one box, and a quarter of another. She slid a fresh magazine into her gun, then stuck the spare in her back pocket.

Claire lied back on the couch. She was slowly drying off, but she still felt cold. She had been in this building for not more than 10 minutes, and she was already stuck.

"_There's always that door back at the top of the cliffs,"_ she reminded herself. She could check out the other place; maybe she would have more luck. She rolled over on the couch and thought about her next move. The night's exhaustion was starting to set in. Her clothes were heavy with water and mud, and the constant adrenaline spikes in her body coupled with the lack of sleep was taking it's toll. Now that she had found a comfortable couch, Claire didn't want to get up.

However, she knew that she had to keep moving. Claire lifted her head. As she got up, she saw something beneath a set of drawers. She got up and reached underneath. She pulled out an ID card. It was a security card. Claire looked at the mugshot and read the name aloud.

"James Astor."

She flipped it over. Below the magnetic strip was a list of numbers and letters: **NTC0394**. She stuck the card in her vest pocket with her lighter. Now Claire turned her attention to the door in front of her. It looked right at place in the palace, but it almost seemed to gaudy. On the front was a large gold plate. Indented on the front were the hollows of two handguns. She tried the knob, and wasn't surprised to find it locked.

"More Umbrella bullshit," she muttered. "Fine, whatever."


	9. Chapter 9

Claire left the office and headed back to the first floor. She checked the computer again. Minimized on the tool bar below was a program labeled 'DOOR LOCKS.' She opened the window up and looked at the program. The last command entered was a lockdown of all electronically locked doors. The program now prompted her to enter in an ID number to unlock them. She took the security card out of her pocket. She looked at the back again and punched in **NTC0394** into the prompt. The computer processed her command, then a message appeared on the screen. The doors were unlocked. An audible click over her shoulder confirmed it.

Claire went through the previously locked door. Ahead of her down the hall were finally signs of the attack: three zombies shuffled slowly towards her. Claire pulled out her twin guns and fired. The gunfire was much louder in the tiled hallway than it had been in the prison. Claire's ears were ringing by the time they fell. Their thick, coagulated blood slowly seeped out from their oozing wounds. Claire tried not to step in it as she stepped over the corpses. Further down the hall, she found two more doors. One was locked. Claire entered the other.

She was now inside a media room. A large projection screen hung on one wall. Along the room were several display cases, each housing different set of items. Some had guns, another had knives. One had a large jewel encrusted statue of an ant. Claire admired how gorgeous and well crafted it was. Below the case was a button. Claire pushed it. The lights dimmed, and a the projection screen lit up. Claire strode over to the center of the room and watched.

It was an old movie. The beginning was damaged by over exposure, and the edges of the film constantly wavered. It eventually focused, and depicted a pair of young children, a boy and a girl. Both of them had blond hair. The boy's was neatly combed over, while the pretty girl displayed her long hair flowing down her back and cascading over her shoulders. A gentle music box played somewhere in the back. The scene shifted from this loving scene to a horrible act of cruelty. The boy was plucking a helpless dragonfly's wings off. The girl looked anxiously over his shoulder, then directly at the camera and grinned. The look in her eyes sent a chill down Claire's back. The boy in the movie dropped the crippled dragonfly in a jar. The girl came to watch as the camera shifted to what was inside of it. A hill of ants swarmed over the wound insect. The movie ended with the children looking lovingly into each others eyes.

Claire made a face of disgust. "_Who were they?"_ she wondered. A low groan of shifting wood made her jump. One of the displays in the room was sliding forward, revealing a secret compartment. Inside were more displays, all themed with nautical equipment. Model ships and maps adorned the cases along the wall. The room was very small, only a few square feet. At the end a golden wonder drew Claire's attention. On an ornamental gold plaque was a pair of handguns. Claire recognized them to be Lugers. The handles were richly decorated, and the entire guns seemed to be made out of solid gold. Claire plucked them off the wall.

The sound of shifting wood resonated again as the display case slid back. Claire was trapped. Near the ceiling and floor, heaters snapped on and turned red hot. Instantly, the room was sweltering. Claire could hardly breathe in the hot air. Quickly she put the Lugers back. The heaters turned off and the display case opened again. Cool air rushed in.

"_This room is rigged,_" she realized. She figured everything in this room was valuable, and would produce a similar result if taken. "_Damn! How can I get these out?_" she thought. She decided to leave them there for now. They would be safe enough. On her way out of the room, Claire saw a ship's steering wheel propped against the wall. She recognized it from the inscription on the platform by the pool. Cautiously, she picked it up, half expecting a dart to shoot into her neck, but nothing happened. She exited the media room with the wheel. It was time she took a closer look at that pool.

Back at the palace doors, Claire was about to leave when a scream echoed through the lobby. Claire turned her head. The sound of it was familiar to her...

"Steve?!" she called. There was no response. The scream had originated from the media room. Claire dropped the steering wheel and bolted for the door to the hall. She vaulted over the zombies she had shot. The pool of blood had spread, and she slipped and almost fell in it when she landed. Claire burst through the media room door. An alarm was ringing out and lights were flashing. The projection screen had risen, revealing a set of monitors. One of them showed Steve banging on the closed display.

"_He's panicking,_" Claire realized. She yelled for him to replace the guns, but Steve didn't hear her. Desperately, Claire looked at the panels in front of her. "_There must be some way to open the door!"_she thought. She pressed a few of the switches. Various images lit up: a gun, a knife, and an ant. Nothing happened. Steve had fallen to his knees in the room. Claire knew she had to hurry.

A message on the control panel stood out. "When two pairs meet, my anger will subside," it said. Once again, Claire was at the mercy of Umbrella's twisted puzzles.

"_Two pairs...two pairs...what two pairs?_" she thought. The picture of the ant flashed on the screen. She looked to her right and saw the beautiful gold ant statue. She looked the other way and saw the case of knives. All the tumblers in Claire's head fell into place. The screens had pictures of what was in the displays. Which two were the same?

"_Guns, knives, ant, boats, guns, and planes... the guns!" _her mind cried out. She quickly punched both corresponding switches. The alarm and lights switched off and the display case rolled forward. Steve tumbled out of the room. He was breathing hard and his face was streaked with sweat.

"That was too close!" he panted, doubling over. "But I found something, thanks to...you." he said hesitantly, sounding as if he regretted it. He aimed the Lugers he now held in his hands. "Pretty cool, huh?"

The gold Lugers reflected in Claire's blue eyes. "Oh, I need those. Give them to me." she said, sounding a bit like mother trying to coerce a child into handing over a stolen dessert. Steve scoffed.

"You've got to be kidding!" he responded. "I found it, and I'm keeping it."

Claire narrowed her eyes. He saw that she wasn't messing with him. She really wanted those guns.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's make a deal. I'll trade you for something fully automatic." he offered.

Claire sighed. She didn't have anything that fit his description. Steve shrugged.

"See you around Claire. Adios!" With that, he jogged out the door.

Claire called after him. "Hey, wait!" but he was already gone. She sighed in exasperation again. He was making things so difficult for both of them. She left the room to try and catch up with Steve, but he was already out of sight, and his footsteps faded away.

Back in the entry hall, Claire headed to pick up the steering wheel she had discarded. A flicker of red appeared near her feet. Claire stopped and turned around. The red light was a hazy dot. It weaved in between her legs, crawling up her form. Claire gasped as she realized what it was.

"_Laser sight!"_ She dove to left as the dot centered on her forehead. The laser had swept over her one of her eyes, blinding it. A loud shot echoed in the hall. Whatever gun it was, the high caliber bullet it fired left a smoking hole where Claire stood. As she dove, a second shot was fired. This one landed near her feet, destroying more tile as it entered. Claire scrambled behind a pillar near the bathroom door and pressed her back against it. She had caught a glimpse of the shooter; he was standing on the staircase balcony. A high pitched voice rang out after the gunshot had echoed away.

"Redfield! How DARE you interfere with my operation!" it shouted, infuriated.

"What are you talking about?" Claire shouted back. She drew her gun and held it close to her chest. She knew she was at a disadvantage. The shooter had a better weapon, and had the drop on her. By the time she could line up a shot with her handgun, he would have sunk a round right between her eyes.

"You let yourself be captured so you could lead your people to this base!"the shooter yelled. Claire could hear the quiver in his voice. He was absolutely shaking with anger.

"I have no idea what you're babbling about!" Claire retorted.

"You don't fool me!" Claire peeked around the corner. She saw the shooter clearly. He was wearing a red military dress uniform. He was young, about her age, with blond hair combed over. Claire thought he looked familiar, but she knew that they had never met. He lowered the sniper rifle he was holding and raised his arm, as if to salute himself. "I am Alfred Ashford, commander of this base." Ironically, he was standing in front of a large portrait of himself that Claire had failed to notice earlier. He raised the rifle again, and Claire pulled her head back.

"Oh? You must be one of Umbrella's lower level officers to be in charge of a backwater base like this one!" she taunted. It might not have been the best thing to do in her current situation.

A loud 'crack' sounded. Alfred had smashed the butt of his rifle on the banister of the staircase, splintering it. "How dare you!?" he snarled. "The Ashfords are among the world's first and finest. My grandfather was one of the original founders of Umbrella Inc." He walked down the staircase, casually telling Claire his lineage.

"Now tell, me why have you attacked this installation?" he asked.

Claire sputtered. "Attacked?!" she asked incredulously. "_This is ridiculous. If he really is in charge of this base, and if he is so high and mighty in Umbrella, then he should know who I am, especially if I infiltrated the Paris lab. I had nothing to do with this._" she thought.

Alfred explained it to Claire. "Shortly after you arrived, my base was attacked. You must have informed your people of it's location." He was now midway down the staircase

Looking around the edge of the pillar, Claire saw him. She quickly slid around it, putting the stone between her and his rifle. "I still don't follow you. I really don't know anything about that!" she tried to explain to him. She doubted that he would believe her.

"Unacceptable!" Alfred cried. "How can you deny it? My base has been destroyed, and thanks to you, the experimental T-virus was released, creating countless zombies and monsters."

He shouldered the rifle again and looked down the scope. "Tell me, who do you work for? Who sent you?"

Claire ventured another peek around the edge of the pillar. The red laser sight flashed in her eye again. Alfred fired. She pulled her head back into cover as the bullet took a piece out of the stone right next to her head. She could feel the bits of rock against her cheek. Luckily, nothing hit her eye or cut her.

Alfred let out a light chuckle. "Have it your way then. You're just a rat in a cage anyway. I'll be sure to keep you entertained before I dispose of you." He laughed shrilly, and Claire, now smart enough to not look, heard footsteps going back up the stairs. She heard a door open then close. Claire waited for a few minutes and listened. She was sure she didn't hear anything. Cautiously, she came out from behind the pillar. He was gone.

Quickly, she ran the the door, picking up the steering wheel in the process, and ran to the platform by the pool.


	10. Chapter 10

As she ran through the courtyard and down the steps to the platform, it finally hit Claire. She knew why Alfred looked so familiar.

"_He must have been the kid in the movie. It makes sense. He looked just like him. His personality didn't seem too far off either._" Claire made a face as she remembered what had happened to the dragonfly. The last thing she needed was a demented Umbrella executive targeting her with a sniper rifle. She would have to watch herself.

She reached the platform and looked at the pedestal. There was a hole in it. The steering wheel matched it perfectly. She slid it in and spun it. It turn a few times, then stopped abruptly. Nothing happened immediately, but soon the sound to moving water soon hit Claire's ears. A long metal object emerged from the water just in front of her. It looked like a submarine. The platform gave a sudden jolt and moved forward, almost sending Claire on her butt had she not grabbed the pedestal. The submarine hatch opened and the front of the platform lowered, creating a bridge to it.

Curious, Claire decided to enter the submarine. She knew it couldn't be a way off the island, but looking couldn't hurt. First she stuck her head down to look inside. Her brown ponytail hung over, or rather, below her head as she scanned for signs of zombies. The bare metal cockpit resembled the inside of a can, completely devoid of detail, with the exception of a single window, a bench, and a lever. Claire righted herself and climbed down the short ladder. She pulled the lever. The hatch above her banged shut, and the submarine shuddered, then began to sink. Nervous at first, Claire calmed herself. It was probably running on a track, like an elevator, and she just pressed the down switch.

Sitting down on the bench, Claire noticed something that had fallen behind it. It was a military side pack. As the submarine moved through the dark water, Claire worked on sliding the pack through her belt. She would be able to carry more with this than just putting things in her jeans.

Light began to waver through the window. Claire looked outside and saw an underwater facility built into the rock beneath the palace. The submarine began to rise, and then docked with a passageway jutting out from the rock. The hatch opened automatically, and water dripped down the ladder. Claire drew her Beretta and climbed the ladder. She stuck her arm and head out and cleared the path in front of her. Exiting the submarine she walked down the passageway. It had large windows, and Claire was able to see a little further into the water with the aid of the lights emitting from the windows.

"_This must be along the outside of the island,_" she thought. "_I can still see the waters surface, so I can't be that far under water._"

Claire continued down the path and walked down a flight of stairs. She went through the door at the end of the hall. She was inside what seemed to be a lobby or a waiting room. The room had a desk and a couch, but these items were lost to Claire; she saw three zombies in the room with her. She had a choice: engage two and go through the door on her left, or engage one and try the roll up shutter on her right.

Remembering her luck with shutters, Claire decided to try the door on the left. Two shots apiece from her Beretta dropped the two zombies. One started to get back up. Claire pulled out her knife and pierced it's skull through it's eye. Claire wrenched her knife free and headed through the door.

It turned out that Steve was right. There was an airport on the island, and Claire had just found it. The airport was built into a hollowed out cavern in the side of the island. A large seaplane was floating in the water. Claire herself was standing on the boarding platform. She ran to the lift to enter the plane, but it was stuck halfway. Consulting the control board next to it, she flipped a switch, and power surged into the lift. It clanked back to the boarding platform. Claire hopped on, but was dismayed when she pushed the button. Nothing happened.

"_Damn! Looks like there's a set of keys I need,_" she thought, noticing a set of indentations on the lifts panel. They were three heptagons. "_What the hell could they be?_"

Claire had no idea. She would have to find them, though. They had a unique shape, so when or if she found them, she would know it. Then she would have to find Steve again. He had mentioned vaguely that he could fly a plane. But, if push came to shove, she could try to wait for Chris.

Bats twittered above her head. Nervously she looked up and saw them hanging in huddled groups. Claire didn't want to find out if they were infected. She left the boarding area and entered the lobby again.

After sending a bullet through the third zombie's head, she hit the switch by the shutter. Thankfully, it rolled open. She stood on a long bridge. To her left was the plane and the boarding area she was previously on. To her right was the gaping entrance to the cave that served as the airport.

"_So the submarine entrance must have been placed there for an emergency. I doubt that that is the only way to get down here. It's too inconvenient. I guess I'm not underwater after all. The water and submarine must have been part of a giant fish tank._"

She jogged across the bridge and opened another roll-up shutter. She was inside the airport storage room. Large metal containers were stacked all around her, and a large lift was centered in the room. The lift was down, and Claire couldn't see very far into the darkness. The only other door in the room was covered by a thick metal gate, so Claire began to look for a way to call the elevator up. Maybe there was more to explore down below.

Unfortunately for Claire, a container had fallen in front of the elevator call button. She could try to climb over the railing next to it, but she really didn't feel like taking a chance at falling into what looked like a bottomless pit. Claire had a different idea. She spotted the storage room crane and it's control booth. A small platform elevator took her to the booth one floor up.

Thankfully, the controls still had power. Claire fiddled with the lever that operated the arm. It was a little tricky for her to operate, since she had no experience using it. She positioned the crane's arm over the container and lowered it. It took a few missed grabs before she was able to successfully snatch the crate off the floor.

"_That was worse than one of those stuffed animal machines,_" she thought. She allowed herself a small smile. Chris had always told her not waste money on them as a kid. She, of course, never listened.

Claire went over to the elevator panel and called the elevator. She could here it rumbling up. As it reached her floor, a group of four zombies took her by surprise. She hadn't seen or heard them over the elevator. They had casually rode the elevator up. One lunged for her. Claire was able to free herself of it's grasp before it's friends could join it. She ran around the elevator railing, and the zombies shuffled slowly around. As she ran around one of it's corners, she spotted a card on a crate on the elevator. She reached over the railing and grabbed it. It was another key card, with the words "**Biohazard**" written on it.

The zombies had shuffled around the corner of the lift and were coming closer. Claire didn't feel like wasting ammo on them. With this card, she could probably access some high security areas, and maybe even find the airport keys. She also didn't feel like finding what was hidden in the black abyss that the elevator had emerged from. She turned tail and ran back to the submarine.


	11. Chapter 11

Claire breathed lightly as she jogged down the path outside of the palace. It was time to check out the other fork in the road by the cliff. Hopefully, the Biohazard card she found would help her out. She rounded the corner, almost forgetting about the wandering zombie she left there. A shot and a kick later, it lay on the ground. Claire looked at the gate in front of her.

It was a solid metal gate, covered with rust. There was door next to it, also rusted.

"_I hope it's unlocked. I really don't feel like trying to climb over it._" The gate was about as tall as she was. She tried the door and found it was indeed unlocked.

On the other side of the door was another courtyard. It wasn't a groomed yard like the palace. Basically, it was a field of drying mud. The building that went with it was massive. Judging from another gate on the far end of the courtyard, Claire guessed it was it's own complex.

The building stood tall and dark. She could see a few lights on, but most of the place was shrouded in shadow.

"_Creepy..._" Claire swallowed and walked across the courtyard. As she walked she thought she felt a tremor. She stopped and looked around.

"_What was that?_" she wondered. She walked and felt it again. It was stronger this time, and getting louder. She whirled around, looking for the source. It was growing even closer.

The ground in front of her exploded. Bits of mud spattered over Claire as she raised her arms to defend herself. She looked up and her mouth dropped open.

It was a giant worm, as wide as a bus. It's multi-segmented mouth had mutated tendrils whipping around it. It let out a shrill, airy scream and dove for Claire. She tripped over her feet and fell in the mud. The worm hit the ground in front of her, burrowing into the ground. The dirt made a disgusting sucking sound as it's slimy body worked into it.

The resulting hole filled in with soft mud. Claire was almost sucked into the filling precipice. Scrambling to her feet, she ran straight for the door of the building. More tremors sounded, and the worm burst through the ground behind her. Claire flew into the building, slipped on the tile of the entrance, and slammed the door. The seismic tremors faded.

Breathing heavily, Claire stood up straight. She had no idea the T-virus could cause such a mutation so fast! The worm only seemed to like soft dirt, though; it wasn't trying to come through the concrete floor.

"_I better avoid that courtyard if I can. Maybe this place has another exit._"

Claire looked around. In the first room of this place was a staircase on her right and a few doors ahead of her. Sticking with her usual system, Claire figured she would start combing the area for supplies. She ran up the stairs on her right. The first door she passed after them had a missing door knob, so she opted to enter the second door. The room was empty. One side of the room had a massive glass window. The other room it showed was pitch black. Even when Claire pressed her head up to it and shielded her eyes from it's reflection, there was nothing. She tried the door next to it. It was locked by an electronic keypad on the side. The other side of the room had a desk and some cages stacked in the corner.

A crossbow sat on the desk. Claire contemplated taking it, but she was encumbered enough, and the crossbow didn't have a shoulder strap. Beneath the weapon was a note. Claire picked it up and squinted in the dim light to read it.

"_The emergency lock in the biology experiment room can be unlocked with the four digit pass number. I hope you haven't forgotten about it already...You know the red human skeleton picture at the back of the biology experiment room? I have decided to use the number signed on the picture as the pass number._"

Claire put the note down and looked at the window again. The password was in that room, and she couldn't even see into it.

"Great," she muttered. She hoped there was nothing useful in there.

As she left, a faint alarm buzzed. A red light pulsed in the blackness through the window. Claire looked curiously. She peered into window. Something slammed against the thick window, startling her. It was a person! He was frantically pounding on the glass and looking behind him. Claire could see his mouth open. He was screaming. She looked to the door to the left of the window. She didn't know the code to open the door. Behind the man, Claire saw a shape looming closer to him. Horrified, she tried to scream through the glass.

"I can't get the door open!"

At that moment, something grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the window. His brain and skull splattered against the window. Claire stepped back and covered her mouth. She could hardly watch as the brain matter slid down the window. Since the alarm had gone off, a red light had lit up the room. It was, like the note said, a laboratory. Looking through the gore on the window, she saw the painting the note had mentioned, but whatever killed the scientist was gone. She was too far away to make out the supposed number on the painting.

Claire decided to leave, she didn't want whatever killed the scientist in the lab to see her. Outside the door. Another alarm sounded. A woman's recorded voice echoed over an intercom.

"Biohazard contamination detected!"

At the bottom of the stairs, a thick metal door was lowering. Claire sprinted down the stairs. The door was halfway shut. She dove forward three quarters of the way down the stairs. She slid on the tile just underneath the door, and felt the door clip her foot. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close."

Now Claire had to put up with the constant alarm. She stuck a finger in her ear and checked out the next door. It was a security center. Two zombies lunged for her as she entered. Hastily drawing her twin guns, she fired, dropping them both. A third crawled along the floor to her right. She fired a volley into it's skull and it stopped.

A wall of monitors showed various sections of the building. Claire saw undead on almost all of them. Sitting in a printer that was connected to the terminals was a series of blueprints. They were labled "Military Training Facility." Claire figured thats where she was. She scooped up the documents and had a look.

"_This place is big,_" Claire confirmed. It was several stories tall, and had a basement. All of her pockets were full, so she couldn't take the map with her. She scoped out a path deeper into the building before discarding it. She went back to searching drawers. One had a box of handgun rounds. She dropped them in her side pack and left the security center.

Outside (one hand over an ear), Claire headed to the end of the foyer. A metal door identical to the one that had almost trapped her was shut in front of her path. She noticed a silver card reader next to it. Out came the Biohazard card from her vest pocket, and Claire swiped it. The status light on the reader flashed green, and the door raised.

"I guess it pays to plan ahead," she said to herself.

Down a short hall, Claire left the area through a door. She was in another courtyard. This one resembled the palace's. The ground was paved with stone, and the walls of it were bricked up the old fashioned way.

_"How bizarre for such a modern facility_"

Claire crossed the courtyard. A flash of red light on the ground before her caught her eye. Claire dove forward as a gunshot rang out. Alfred was back! His shot missed Claire as she rolled, but struck an fuel drum. An explosion rocked the courtyard. The concussion stunned Claire briefly, but she saw where Alfred was perched. She spotted the stairs that led to the balcony where he was standing. Luckily for her, the explosion also disoriented him, and it took him a second to regain his sights on Claire.

Claire sprinted for the stairs. Another shot rang out, breaking the brick near her head. Claire got the the stairs and drew her Beretta. She fired wildly with one arm in his direction. The bullets landed no where near him, but they did the trick. Alfred retreated into a door.

Claire chased after him. She crossed the balcony, vaguely seeing a flash of indigo as she passed. She blew through the door with the gun outstretched in her hand. The hall in front of her was empty. She quickly moved down it, her eye down the sight of her gun. She came to the end of it. A vending machine, and two doors.

Before Claire had a chance to pick one, a metal door slid down behind her, blocking the way she came. She gasped and ran for the hallway, but it was too late. The door clanked shut, and Claire's momentum carried her into it. She struck the barrier in frustration.

"_Shit!_"

An intercom crackled, and Alfred's high pitched laugh resonated through it.

"Welcome Claire," his voice said, oozing with glee. "Consider the area you are in a special...playground I have prepared just for you. Please try and keep me amused, and do not disappoint me by dying to soon. I...SO want to enjoy this..."

He laughed again, and cut the intercom. Claire stood, her gun gripped tightly in her hand. Her heart was pounding. She ran straight into his trap. What would happen to her now?

She hit the safety on her handgun and stuck it in her jeans, then drew her twin guns. Claire flipped a mental coin in her head and opened the door on her right. It was a breakroom. There were no windows or doors other than the one she just came through. The only thing of interest was a medicine chest on the couch. She opened it, and inside was a small white bottle. The label read "**Hemostatic.**"

"_Rodrigo..._" She remembered what she told herself. She would get this medicine to him. She dropped it in her side pack. She had to get back to the prison and hope she wasn't too late.

Claire left the breakroom and tried the other door in the hall. Her heart pounded even harder as she opened the door slowly.

She was in a warehouse. Like the airport storeroom, this place was filled with metal containers. It was also dark as hell. Claire's piercing blue eyes scanned the darkness for anything Alfred had up his sleeve, but it appeared empty. There was an open case near the end of the catwalk she stood one. It had two Ingram Mac 11s in it. Quickly, Claire checked the submachine guns. Ejecting both of the magazines, she found that they were empty. Looking over the rail, she saw that the ammo box had fallen out of the crate and onto a container below.

Claire remembered her conversation with Steve.

"_I'll trade you for something fully automatic,_" he had said. These would do. She could get the Lugers now. She stuffed the small automatic guns awkwardly in her holsters. They didn't fit the greatest, but they would stay put.

As Claire walked down the catwalk, she heard a rattle. Something was opening. She turned around and saw a shutter in the wall rising.

Her eyes widened as a long, muscular arm snaked out of the entrance and grabbed the railing of the catwalk. A creature pulled itself from it's cage and onto the catwalk.


	12. Chapter 12

The creature gaped at Claire with a wide, toothless mouth. It only had one arm, which it swung instantly at Claire. Claire reacted by ducking. It's arm stretched like rubber as it's claw swiped the air over her head. It whacked the railing of the catwalk, causing it to shake. Claire pointed her guns at it and fired. The bullets struck, but the creature didn't fall. Claire continued to fire, the chattering bursts filling the warehouse. Unable to control the recoil of her guns, half of her bullets missed, ricocheting off the metal floor and walls.

The creature let out a throaty roar, and swung it's arm again. Claire was unable to dodge, and the creature's backhand struck her in the shoulder and threw her off of her feet. Her shoulder aching, she struggled to her feet. She turned and ran down the catwalk, trying to put some distance between her and the monstrosity. As she did, she saw the creatures arm stretch out and grab the railing next to her. The catwalk turned, and Claire turned with it just in time to dodge the creature as it pulled itself at her. Ahead of her was a set of stairs.

The creature attacked again, it's swipe grazing Claire's leg. Her leg buckled and she fell as she reached the stairs, falling headfirst down them. She hit the bottom hard. Groaning she rolled over. The creature was at the top of the stairs. She hadn't dropped her guns, so she fired again. More shots hit it, but still, it didn't die. Roaring again, it jumped off the catwalk and onto Claire's floor.

She got up painfully, her entire body screaming in pain from the fall. The creature advanced on her again. Unable to get up, she fired again and again, and just as her left gun clicked empty, the right felled the creature. It tipped over backwards and twitched.

Claire wheezed in pain. She dropped her empty gun in her left hand and held her side.

"_God, I hope I didn't crack a rib,_" she thought as she pulled herself up. Her shins were killing her from the assault they took from the stairs, and her chest felt like fire every time she breathed.

Nervously, she approached the dead creature. She pointed her remaining gun at it. She didn't want to get surprised.

The thing was hideous, about seven feet tall. It's remotely human head was buried into its torso, giving it the appearance of a gorilla. Strips of rubbery tendons on it's face and chest were exposed. Claire recognized them as similar to ones in peoples necks. It only had a massive right arm; it's left arm stopped at the shoulder. A stub of what could have been a humerus protruded from it's empty socket. It's right arm dangled to it's knees, but Claire had seen the muscular limb stretch three times that length. To top the whole thing off, it's muscle and skin was a disgusting orange-yellow. Claire swallowed.

"_This thing looks almost human. Could this have been a prisoner?_" she thought. Now she felt sick. "_Is this why Umbrella has this facility here, to experiment on prisoners?_"

The thing twitched and Claire jumped and fired a burst into it's chest, but it only reacted by spurting blood. It's eyes were glossy and it's mouth was open. It was dead. Claire groaned when she saw the action of her gun stay open. She was out.

Claire dropped the gun. She hadn't found any ammo for it, and she didn't even know how to reload it. She hated to give them up, but she was running low on places to put things on her person.

"_Screw it, maybe I'll find another pair,_" she thought.

A door creaked open to Claire's right. She pulled her Beretta out and pointed it at the door, half expecting to see Alfred there. But there was nothing.

"_What made it open?_" she wondered.

Slowly, she crept forward, her gun in front of her. When she reached the door, she darted through, and swept her gun across the room. Still nothing. Claire nervously scanned the room. Her left hand was still clutching her sore side, and it didn't help that she couldn't catch her breath from her nervous breathing.

Another one of the creatures dropped down next to her. Claire couldn't react fast enough, and it's massive arm swung at her, and it's clawed hand snatched her off the ground by her head. Her gun went off as she was swept in the air, and she dropped it as she was violently tugged. The thing's hand began to tighten.

Wrapping her arms around it's hand to support her body weight, Claire felt immense pressure on her head. One of it's huge fingers was wrapped partway around her neck. As it's grip tightened, her neck was pressed against it. The continuous stain would snap her neck! Claire screamed as the vertebrae in her neck contorted painfully. She fruitlessly tried to pry herself away.

The sound of glass breaking drowned out Claire's struggle. A crystalline rain fell over Claire and the creature. She heard three shots. The creature dropped Claire. As she fell, she saw Steve, sailing through the air, the magnificent golden Lugers in his hands, and a stream of glass trailing him from the window he jumped through. He landed gracefully into a roll, next to Claire.

Claire blacked out briefly from the fall. The creature turned on Steve, who pointed the Lugers blindly, his eyes not leaving Claire's form. He fired and struck the creature. Turning towards it with anger in his face, he shot again. He fired again and again, marching closer and closer to it. The creature was pushed back as it was peppered with bullets. Steve side kicked it in it's malformed head, shoving it against the wall. Raising one Luger, he lined up the sights with it's skull and executed it with a single shot.

Claire woke up amidst the gunfire just in time to see Steve finish it. He laughed.

"Oh yeah! That felt good!" he said, sounding exhilarated. He turned to face Claire. She saw that his shirt and jacket were speckled with blood from the point blank shooting. He grinned as Claire propped herself up, now holding her neck instead of her side.

"Don't worry Claire. Your knight in shining armor is here."

He kneeled gracefully in front of her, showing his "chivalry." Claire groaned and looked up. Immediately, she saw the shining Lugers in his hands. She scoffed.

"You wish," she retorted and stood up. "But thanks for the help." She meant it, although her tone of voiced didn't.

"You see, this is why you need me," Steve said, still grinning. "I've got your back."

Claire rolled her eyes.

"Whatever..." She pulled sub-machine guns from her holsters. "Here. Take these."

Steve's eyes lit up with delight.

"Machine guns? For me?" he asked, as if to sound surprised.

"You know the deal," Claire reminded him. "In exchange for your Lugers."

"Okay! Okay!" Steve said laughing.

He happily traded weapons with Claire. She slipped the magnificent guns into the her side pack; they were too small for her holsters. Steve was examining his new guns.

"This thing is too cool!" he said. He pulled back the slides on the guns. He didn't notice that he was chambering air. "Yes! Now this is my kind of weapon." He released the slides and took aim at the fallen creature.

"Alright!" He pulled the triggers, and a dry click chirped from the gun.

Steve said, "Huh?" dumbfounded. Claire let out a fit of giggles behind him, covering her eyes with her hand.

"_He looked like a kid at Christmas time!_" she thought, laughing. Steve wasn't so amused. He turned to Claire.

"Hey, this thing's empty! You cheated me," he accused.

Claire recovered from her laughter and nodded her head in the direction of the crates where the ammo was hidden.

"Up there. Plenty of ammo, just for you," she said. Steve made a face.

"Way up there?" he asked.

"Gimme a boost and I'll get if for you," she offered.

"Alright, alright," he said, annoyed. He got down on his hands and knees, and Claire stepped on his back. She reached over the storage crate and groped for the box of magazines. She had her hand on it when Steve spoke again.

"Owww! My back! You're heavier than you look," he complained. Claire dug her boot on his shoulder. "Hurry up!" he called. She grabbed the box and stepped off of his back. Steve stood back up and Claire presented the box to him. She leaned forward, as if to chastise a child.

"Happy now?" she mocked. Steve scoffed and took the box from her.

The room jolted and began to descend. In the battle with the creature, neither of them had noticed that they were standing on a turntable elevator, and now it was going down.

"W-what?" Steve asked surprised.

The elevator got darker and darker, until it was almost pitch black. From somewhere in the darkness, they heard an intercom turn on. Alfred's voice sang out.

"Now that your knight has made his appearance, he can join you in your descent into death..."


	13. Chapter 13

The elevator continued to descend. In the dark, Claire worked stripping off her old holsters. Now that they didn't serve a purpose, the were just bulky collateral. She tossed them on the floor and pulled out one of the gold Lugers from her side pack. Green emergency lights had turned on in the lower floors, casting a glow over the duo. The gun glowed like it was radioactive.

"_It really is beautiful,_" she marveled. She pressed the magazine release and the small clip slid out. Claire held it up and peered at it in the low light. It was empty. She gave Steve a cross look past the magazine.

"_Who cheated who?_" she thought irritated. Claire let it go. She didn't need to be on bad terms with Steve. They needed to help each other to escape this place alive. Besides, she wasn't going to hold onto these for long. Still a little irked, she slid the magazine back into the gun. She picked up her fallen sidearm where it landed when the creature grabbed her. She groaned softly as she stood back up. Her entire body was sore.

"_Wish I had some Tylenol_," she thought.

Steve was busy loading his brand new submachine guns. He stuck the spare clips in his pockets and loaded two into the guns. The elevator finally hit the bottom of the shaft.

"Okay! Let's do this!" Steve yelled excitedly. "Wait here Claire." He pulled back both slides on his guns, then released them. Both of his guns were loaded and ready. "Time to test out my new toy!"

Laughing he barreled through the door. It slammed shut behind him, and immediately, Claire heard automatic gunfire. Hurriedly, she went through the door. Steve was already gone, and several decomposing bodies littered the floor. She heard more gunfire in the next room.

"_Well, he sure is having fun,_" she thought. "_I guess I'll just let him do his thing. He should be able to handle a few zombies._"

A gate was closed over one part of the room. Past it was a door, and leaning on a bench, to Claire's excitement, was a grenade launcher. She recognized the make, it was a M79, just like Leon had given her in Raccoon City. She reached through the bars of the gate. To her dismay, the gun lay about four inches from her fingertips. She stretched as far as she could, but only succeeding in almost wedging her sore shoulder into the metal. She retracted her hand, disappointed.

"_Damn! So close, yet so far away. There's even spare rounds on the cabinet in here._"

Claire looked and saw a card reader next to the gate. It was indigo blue. She filed away this information for later. She wanted that launcher.

Another burst of gunfire reminded her to follow Steve. There were two doors. Claire picked one, and found herself in a dead end. There was a workbench here, with gun parts scattered everywhere on the table. She helped herself to a half full box of nine millimeter rounds sitting next to them. She turned out of the room and went through the other door.

More bodies littered the room. Claire figured it was a boiler room of some kind. A ruptured pipe was leaking some noxious looking gas, but a fan in the floor was sucking it in. Ahead of her through the ajar door, she heard Steve.

"It was dirty work, but this area is now clean!"

Claire walked through the door and saw Steve. He was standing in a dim hallway, next to a hideous carving of a face jutting out of the old brick wall. A drainage stream bubbled below them. Claire joined him on the metal bridge over it. He smiled when he saw her.

"Well, what do you think of my work?" he asked. Claire looked away from him. He might have been effective, but she thought that he enjoyed himself a little too much. Steve didn't notice her. "You see?" he continued, "this thing is a lot more reliable than any person."

He stuck the submachine guns out in front of him and crossed his arms, posing for her. A look of confusion crossed Claire's face.

"Than people?" she asked. Steve cast his eyes away at her question. He turned away and walked towards and old gate elevator at the end of the bridge.

"Steve," Claire began. "What were you doing here? Who brought you here, and where is your family?"

"Shut up!" he shouted. His voice shook a little. "I don't want to talk about it!"

Claire opened her mouth to press forward, but Steve raised his arm and fired down the stream, emptying his clip. Claire pressed her hand to her ear. The shots echoed loudly off of the stone.

"Steve..." she began again. Steve interrupted her.

"Never mind, lets get going," he said. He pulled open the gate to the elevator. Claire followed him slowly.

"_Somethings wrong..._" she thought. "_He has something going on in his family, but he doesn't want to talk to me..._" She thought of her relation with Chris. "_Please, Steve. Don't shut me out just yet._"

Once they were both in, Steve pressed the button for the second floor. He ejected his empty magazines on the floor as they rode up, then loaded new ones. Neither of them spoke. Behind him, Claire could see how he moved as he filled his weapons. He was angry.

When the elevator stopped, Steve opened the gate and quickly sauntered down the hall. Claire jogged to catch up with him. Upon opening the door, she saw him standing on a rickety wooden balcony that ran around the interior of the building. They had found the base's motor pool. It was in an antique section of the base. The entire room looked fifty years old, at least. Claire could feel the boards bending under her boots.

As she met with Steve, the planks beneath them collapsed. They both screamed as the balcony crumbled. They hit the dirt floor hard, the debris piling on top of them. As soon as she hit, Claire covered her arms with her head. Rotten boards and old metal pelted her. Dust filled the air and began to settle. She heard Steve cough. He had landed closer to the center of the room. She tried to get up and hissed in pain.

Claire looked at her ankle and saw that it was pinned underneath the twisted metal railing of the former balcony. She braced her free leg against the wreckage and pushed, using her hands to pull her leg with all her might. The wreckage shook slightly, but didn't move. She pushed and pulled again, grunting, but still remained trap. She heard Steve cough in the dust again, then call out to her.

"Claire, are you okay?" he asked. He stood up. He didn't see the figure behind stand up behind him. Claire saw it through the settling haze.

"Steve, behind you!" Claire warned. In the blink of an eye, Steve whirled and stuck his guns at the zombie. It turned towards him and moaned. As it did, Steve's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped slightly.

"No..." he breathed. He took a few shaky steps backwards. The zombie began to slowly advance on him. Steve backed up more. As he did, he bumped into a parked jeep that was being repaired in the center of the room. He awkwardly shifted it around it, all the while his guns pointed at the approaching zombie, but never shooting. From her vantage point, Claire looked at him, confused.

"What's wrong Steve?" she asked panicked. "Shoot him!"

"_What is he waiting for? He's got ammo!_" she wondered. Claire saw the fear growing in his eyes. "_What is he so afraid of?_"

"Wait!" he yelled at the undead man in front of him. To Claire he stammered, "I...I can't!"

His voice broke. "No!" he screamed and closed his eyes.

"Steve!" she called at him. It was almost upon him. Hearing her scream. It stopped and turned in the direction of Claire. Seeing this new, helpless prey, it began to shuffle towards her. Claire reached for her gun, but it had fallen out from her jeans in the fall. It now lay in the wreckage at her feet, beyond her reach. She tried to push herself back, but her trapped leg prevented her.

"No!" she begged. Wildly, she looked at Steve. He was still frozen. The zombie fell to it's knees in front of her and opened it's mouth. Claire threw herself into the ground and covered her neck with her arms, shrieking.

All at once, Steve snapped out of his funk. He turned and centered his guns on the zombie as it lowered it's head. He pulled the triggers of his guns.

"FATHER!" Steve screamed. The automatic gunfire ripped into the zombies decomposed flesh. As it hovered over Claire, the exits wounds riddling it's body spewed blood all over her. All she could hear was the sound of gunfire, Steve screaming incoherently, and bullets exiting flesh. The volley of bullets continued to assault the zombie, until the force of them pushed it off of Claire. Steve continued to fire as it fell next to Claire.

Finally, his guns went empty. The gunfire stopped abruptly and the room went silent. Steve continued to press the triggers again and again, but nothing emerged but empty clicks. The zombie gave a final twitch and stopped moving. Shaking, Claire lifted herself off the ground. Her jeans, vest, and shirt were stained with coagulated blood, and a few trails of it ran down her face like crimson tears. Real ones would follow soon.

"Steve..." she squeaked. Her eyes started running, mixing the zombie's blood on her face.

Steve stood there, completely motionless. He slowly blinked, then Claire saw his tears begin to fall from his eyes. He fell to his knees, then dropped both of his guns. He tipped his head back, sobbing.

"Father...Father...Father..." He fell forward and buried his head in arms and sobbed.


	14. Chapter 14

Using both hands, Claire managed to pry the twisted metal off of her ankle. Somehow, it wasn't broken. She shakily got to her feet, and wiped her face with the back of her glove. The blood on her face smeared across her cheeks as she wiped away her tears.

"_That poor guy..._" she thought miserably. Steve was sitting with his head between his knees, staring at the creature that used to be his father, now decomposed and riddled with bullet wholes. "_He might not have been his father anymore, but still...He shot him, to save me..._" Claire's heart pinged. "_I thought he was such an asshole before, but it really wasn't his fault._"

Claire looked down, and was mortified at her appearance. The thick, coagulated blood was staining her shirt and jeans. Her leather vest, luckily, was not absorbing the blood. She spotted an oily rag on a tool box next the the jeep. She grabbed it and wiped her her face, clearing off most of the blood, then ran it around her bare midriff; Claire tried to shut out the disgusting feeling of the blood beginning to seep into her underwear. By the time she wiped her vest, the cloth was scarlet, so she discarded it and turned her attention to Steve.

He still hadn't moved. Claire thought for a minute, then opened her mouth. She wasn't sure how to comfort him, but she couldn't bear standing in silence anymore, looking at his back. Before she could speak, Steve spoke.

"Dad...used to work for Umbrella," he began. "Tried to steal information, intending to sell it off to the highest bidder." He swallowed, and continued. "He was caught, Mom was killed, and we were sent here." Claire's heart ached again. What a horrible thing to have happened to him.

"Oh Steve..." she said sympathetically. "_He really is all alone._"

"He was a fool to do something so reckless..." Steve said. "...so stupid." He tucked his head in between his legs. Claire knelt behind him, and gently reached out and put a hand softly on his shoulder.

"It's okay now, just rest," she said softly in his ear. She quietly stood up behind him, spotted a door, and crept out of it. Claire shut it behind her softly. It would be best if she left him alone for the time being.

She had been so quiet, she hadn't even caught the attention of the two zombies in the dark hall where she now stood. Claire drew her combat knife, and crept up behind one. She didn't want to disturb Steve with gunshots. She plunged the knife into the back of it's skull. It toppled over without sound. The second zombie her the impact of the body, and turned it's head towards her. Claire kicked it, knocking it over, then soccer kicked it in the head. They way ahead clear, she stuck her knife back in it's sheath and walked on. She passed the old fashioned elevator that she and Steve rode to the second floor.

Instead of taking the elevator, Claire walked through the door in front of her. Unlike the hallway, the room she was in was brightly lit, and tastefully decorated with nice wallpaper. One wall was abruptly blank, and to the left was a painting of a man against a blue sky. Opposite the painting, hanging on the wall, was an indigo blue object. Claire examined it.

It was a small shield, with a bird inscribed on it. Claire guessed it was an eagle or some other predatory bird. It was clutching a halberd. Running her finger across the metal, Claire felt the glossy texture of the plate, and noticed that the halberd felt different. It seemed to be made of gold, set into the blue metal. As she felt it, the eagle plate shifted on the wall. Claire realized that it was hanging freely, so she took it off the wall, and looked at the back. There were a few scratches along the edges, and a small set of engravings that looked like...

"_Could this be another key?_" Claire thought. She figured as much. "_I wonder what it unlocks?_" She looked at the indigo blue plate in her hands. So beautiful, and yet, Claire thought it looked familiar. "_I saw the same color when I chased Alfred into the warehouse!_" She remembered the flash of blue as she ran across the balcony. Maybe there would be more clues there.

Claire stuffed the heavy plate into her side pack. It was pretty full, now holding some ammunition, the gold Lugers, and the eagle plate. She turned to leave the room, and saw a painting on the west side of the room, opposite the blank wall.

It depicted an identical room to the one she was standing in, except the painting showed a diorama of something behind her, where the wall was. Claire did a double take, looking from the painting to the wall.

"_Strange..._" she thought. Looking again, she saw the blue painting of the man. In the painting, across from it, where the eagle plate was hanging, was a red painting. Peering at the canvas, it looked like the red painting was the same as the blue, except the man was now a skeleton.

"_Didn't that memo in the lab mention a red skeleton painting?_" Claire thought to herself slowly. Looking back to where the eagle plate was, she noticed that the wall was pale, as if something had been removed recently. "_I bet that painting has something to do with this wall. It's too blank. I bet that diorama is behind it._" Well, if it was hidden, there might be something useful about it.

Claire turned and left the room. She went back to the motor pool, and stuck her head in the door. The body of Steve's father was still there, but Steve himself was gone.

"_I hope he's feeling better,_" Claire thought. Her mind lingered on Steve for a bit. She wouldn't tell it to him directly, but he looked pretty cool when he came sailing out of that window, guns blazing. She allowed herself a small smile, then shook her head. "_Focus, I have to get to that balcony._" She pulled out her handgun and checked the double doors at the south of the motor pool. They were unlocked, and she pulled them open and left.

She was back outside, and in a small, walled in yard. In the middle sat a tank. A little surprised at seeing it, Claire ignored it, and headed to the other door. Behind her and the tank, ravenous barking sounded, and a pair of decomposing dogs came bounding from behind the tank. Claire raised her gun and fired. One fell, but the other leaped for Claire before she could fire. It tackled her to the dirt and tried to rip out her throat. She got her hand around its neck and they struggled briefly. Claire got her gun up and shot it through the head. She shoved the dead dog off of her, got up, and checked her magazine. She used about half.

Pulling out the half full box she found at the workbench, Claire slid more rounds into the magazine and discarded the box. Free of distractions, she opened the door, and her heart sank. She was looking at the courtyard where the worm attacked her. Judging by the disturbed dirt all around, it was probably still there. She slowly walked out into the courtyard, trying to minimize the sound of the mud squishing beneath her feet. She heard a few tremors, and stopped. Taking a deep breath, she waited until they subsided, then bolted for the door to the front of the Military Training Facility. As she got through the door, she heard the worm surface and roar.

"_Sorry, not today!_" she thought. There was no way she was going to be that things dinner. The biohazard contamination alarm was still ringing. Claire ran to the shutter that led to the balcony and opened it with the Biohazard card. Inside the courtyard, the fire from the previous explosion was still burning. Claire ran up the stairs to the balcony, and sure enough, there was an indigo blue block. There was an indentation of a shield on it. She set the eagle plate in the indentation, and the top of the block slid open. Inside, there was a blue keycard, with the same eagle as the plate stamped on it. She picked it up and stuck it in her vest pocket, with the Biohazard card and her lighter.

"_It's the same color as the card reader in the basement!_" she thought excitedly. That grenade launcher was as good as hers. From her vantage point, she saw a small fenced off area in the courtyard. There was a manhole within it. Struggling to remember the building floor plan, Claire thought she remembered that she was over the basement. That manhole might take her straight there.

Claire went to the manhole, and climbed down the ladder. Down a small access corridor, she came to a metal gate. On the other side was the room with the leaky gas pipe and fan. Next to the gate was another blue card reader, so Claire decided to test out her new key. She swiped it, and the gate raised. She hopped off the ledge, ignoring the bullet ridden corpses of Steve's rampage, and trekked back to the storage room by the elevator.

She swiped the blue card in the reader, and the metal gate that separated her and the grenade launcher raised. Claire picked it up, and smiled.

"_Hello, gorgeous,_" she thought and laughed. She cracked open the launcher, and saw that it was empty. Not dismayed, Claire took the spare rounds she saw earlier off of the shelf. They were standard 40 millimeter grenade rounds, the kind that detonated on impact. She grabbed a bandolier off the shelf and strapped it around her small waist. Popping off the container top, she took out six rounds, and slid them into the bandolier's pouches. Claire loaded a round into the launcher and closed it, then slung it over her shoulder.

"_Now that I'm better equipped, I shouldn't have a problem with any more bioweapons. At least, if I see them coming._" Claire turned and headed back to the old elevator. She already had her destination in mind. When she and Steve exited on the second floor, she had seen another blue card reader outside of a heavy metal door.

Stepping out onto the second floor, she turned right and saw the reader. She swiped the blue key and waited for the door to raise. As the door cleared the floor, a body slumped out. Claire jumped a foot in the air as the movement startled her. The decomposing body's face grinned maniacally at her through shredded lips, but remained still. Calming her heart, she stepped around the body in the door, and another splayed by the wall. She had found the bases security room. One whole wall was a single large monitor, surrounded by smaller ones. A large row of computers sat below it.

Up on a raised platform next to what looked like a captain's chair was a glowing monitor. Intrigued, Claire took a closer look. The monitor displayed some grotesque looking creature that looked like a mutated pink lizard. The figures on the screen showed that it was only about a foot long, with little flippers and a tail. It looked like a headless tadpole.

"Hmmm...an Albinoid?" Claire read aloud, wrinkling her nose. Another Umbrella freak. "It rapidly matures to an adult in only a few hours...and can emit a powerful electrical charge..." Claire had read enough. She recognized the screen as touch operated, and closed the file. There was a list of more subjects. Claire paged through a few, seeing snapshots of a few failed experiments. She stopped when she saw a familiar (and ugly) face. It was the creature that Alfred had siced on her.

"_Bandersnatch. What a weird codename,_" Claire thought. She turned away from the monitor and headed to the row of computers. Only one was on. Sitting at the keyboard was a peculiar object. It was a hexagonal stone with a picture of a jeep carved on it. There was a red stone embedded in it.

"_It's the same shape as the lock in the airport. I think this is one of the keys!_" Claire thought excitedly. One down, two to go. She dropped it into her side pack and looked at the monitor. She recognized the lab where she almost got sealed in. The alarm was still going off. Although she couldn't here the piercing alarm, she could see the room pulse with light. The red painting was visible on the screen. On the console in front of her, Claire saw a joystick. Manipulating it, she saw the camera move with her hand. Positioning the camera on the painting, she pressed the zoom button, and the camera panned in on the painting.

On the bottom left of the creepy piece of art was a number. 1126.

"_Well, it doesn't matter, because the room is sealed anyway._" Claire thought. No sooner did she think it, the lights stopped flashing, and a message popped up on the monitor. The room was finished decontaminating. "_Now I can go get that painting._" As she turned to leave, the bodies she had passed got up and turned towards her, moaning in hunger.

Claire opted to take the door in the security room. As she twisted the knob, she felt a lock release. Stepping through it, she shut the walking corpses inside. She was back on the balcony where she found the blue card. Much closer to the lab than she first thought, she headed through the door and back into the facility.

Swiping the Biohazard card at the shutter, the door raised. Claire jogged up the stairs, and headed through the door. Walking to the keypad next to the glass viewing window still covered in the unlucky scientist's brain, she punched '1126' into the key pad. The door opened, and Claire pulled out her handgun. The room was dark and empty. Squinting in the gloom, Claire let her eyes adjust to the light.

The entire room smelled as if it had been scrubbed clean. Claire figured it was the antiseptics and cleaning agents in the room. There was also a slight pungent odor of decomposition and other chemicals. A flutter of nausea in her stomach, Claire ventured into the room and headed to the painting in the corner of it. Trying not to look at the baby Albinoids hovering in fluid inside glass tubes next to her, she unhooked the painting from the wall. The glass next to Claire broke.

The alarm rang out again, and the harsh female voice barked over the loudspeakers again.

"Biohazard contamination detected!"

The glass tubes next to Claire spilled out their contents; Albinoids spilled over the floor at her feet. Claire broke out in a run. She slipped and fell on the fluid from the glass tubes and hit the ground. The painting fell from her grasp and slid to the open door. As she got to her feet, the sound of electricity crackled, and Claire screamed in pain as a jet of pain shot through her body. Her entire left leg went numb. Unable to stand, she resorted to crawling to the door. Looking behind her, she saw the pink lizards squirming about on the floor. Every now and then, a bolt of electricity would arc into a puddle on the floor.

The feeling slowly coming back into her leg, she got up an managed to make it to the door with the painting, limping the whole way. It sealed shut behind her. Limping to the stairs, she hurried down them and passed underneath the blast door just as it was shutting. The door clanked shut behind her.

Claire sat down on the tile floor, and groaned. She held her leg with her hands. The feeling was back, but all that brought was an immense ache that she felt from the heel of her foot to the crest of her hip. She had managed to swiped the painting, but had narrowly escaped being shocked to death.

"_Well, I guess that file wasn't kidding about the electric charge._"


	15. Chapter 15

Claire winced as the pain shot through her leg again. It even hurt to limp down the military training facility. She passed through the inner courtyard, which was still in flames from the leaking oil, with the red painting under her arm. Claire figured that she looked a little silly, carrying a piece of art around a place filled with zombies. Up the stairs, she paused at the door to the security center and pulled her gun. She had left two undead corpses in there, and didn't feel like getting bitten. She turned the latch and violently bashed open the door.

The door slammed into something as it opened, and there was a thud and a moan. Claire had knocked over one of the zombies. The second had wandered out of the room, and further into the hall. Stepping over the body on the ground before it could grab her, she advanced on the second zombie, firing her gun. She clipped it in the head, and it fell over, the wound pooling blood on the floor.

Since no one had used the elevator since she came to the floor, it was still waiting for her. She was long gone to the first floor before the first corpse even got back to it's feet. She stepped off on the first floor, and headed to the room which she now thought of as the diorama room.

She set the painting down and peered closely at the pale wall. Along the top were two small hooks on either top corner. They were built into little tracks. Claire pulled on them, and they shifted down, but nothing happened.

"_Must be weight sensitive,_" Claire guessed. She looked at the back of the painting and saw two holes that probably corresponded with the hooks in the wall. She dropped the painting on the hooks and waited. The painting hung for a minute, then she heard what sounded like a lock release. The entire wall slowly slid down, revealing the diorama she had seen in the painting on the opposite wall.

Claire marveled at it. It was replica of the facility she was in. Painstaking detail was added to every square inch of it. She recognized various parts of the facility, including the worm's yard, the inner courtyard were Alfred had taken shots at her, and the motor pool (strangely enough, the tank outside the motor pool was missing). To the left of the model was a plaque, commemorating the building of the facility. Set on the front of the diorama was a small golden key. Claire picked it up and dropped it in her jean pockets.

"_Wait a minute...there was a door in the palace that had a gold seal above it._" Claire thought. She figured that was logical guess. The key was far too gaudy in a place like this. Why it was hidden here was beyond her, but that didn't matter now. Claire left the art gallery and booked it for the palace.

After a quick run across the worm's courtyard, ignoring the pain in her leg, Claire was back on the path along the cliff that lead to the palace. Along the path, two large rubbery arms grabbed the railing.

Two Bandersnatches jumped onto the path from the rocks below. Claire jumped back as the first one took a swipe at her. They began to close the distance, lumbering slowly as they tried to regain striking distance. Claire unslung the grenade launcher from her shoulder, then placed it firmly against her shoulder, just like Leon had shown her, then clicked off the saftey. She lined up the first creature and pulled the trigger.

The 40 millimeter shell kicked hard against Claire's shoulder. It struck the Bandersnatch in the collar, and exploded. Bits of yellow flesh splattered in all directions as the upper half of it's torso became a lump of meat. Claire smirked triumphantly, and pulled the breaking lever on the launcher. The spent shell popped out of the chamber with a hollow click, steaming. Quickly, she loaded a second shell into it and closed the launcher. She lined up the second Bandersnatch, but it lashed out with it's arm before she could fire. She rolled out of the way, then scurried back, putting more range between her and the advancing bioweapon. Claire pulled the trigger on the launcher, and the round buried itself in the stomach of the second Bandersnatch, then exploded. It roared briefly before it fell over dead.

Claire ejected the second round and loaded a third for later. She smirked and strolled in between the smoking corpses with the grenade launcher resting casually on her shoulder.

"_Beat that, Steve,_" she thought to herself. Sure, it might not have had a perfect entrance, like his in the warehouse, but it had gotten the job done. She could envision his expression. No doubt he would scoff and roll his eyes. "_His eyes are kinda cute when they do that..._" Claire mentally slapped herself. "_You idiot! He's a total jerk, stop thinking about him! But still...he's had a tough life, so I can't be cruel to him._"

Claire ran up the steps and into the palace courtyard. She advanced cautiously through the front door. She didn't want Alfred to pop out and shoot her. The lobby was clear, so she ran and headed to the media room. The door to the right of it had a large gold crest above it. She fished the key out of her pocket and slid it into the lock, which was also a brilliant gold. It turned smoothly, and Claire turned the latch. The door opened, and Claire stepped into yet another art gallery.

Paintings lined all four walls of the room. A large painting of who Claire guessed was Alfred was on the eastern wall, sitting on a private section of the wall and up a few steps. She walked up to it and frowned. He looked just like he did in the sick movie she saw. There was a rolled up paper underneath the painting. She unrolled it and had a look. It was from the family butler, named Scott Harman. Apparently, the paper was addressed to Alfred when he had taken over the family.

The note detailed the history of the family, beginning with a woman named Veronica. She was both beautiful and intelligent, a true genius of her time. After she passed away, Stanley Ashford took control of the family, later followed by his son Thomas Ashford. It seemed that Stanley Ashford and his wife produced twins. Thomas was one of them, and the other, Arthur, took over the family after him.

After Arthur had his reign over the family, the balance of power shifted to Edward Ashford, Alfred's grandfather. Claire read further, and discovered that Edward indeed was one of Umbrella's original founders, just as Alfred had boasted. Once Edward passed on, Claire read, Alexander Ashford, Alfred's father, took over the family. However, something the note didn't detail happened to the family, and it began to decline.

There was an inscription on the frame of Alfred's painting. It said 'Trace the lineage of the Ashord family to it's true leader." There was a button below the painting. In fact, there were buttons underneath each painting.

"_Trace the lineage...so...start from the earliest and go to the newest,_" Claire reasoned. If there were buttons underneath the paintings, she figured they had to be pressed in a certain order. Why, she didn't know. But like everything she had encountered so far, it had to be something valuable or useful. She had the order of the family, but she had no way of knowing who was who. "_Maybe the paintings will have some clues._"

Claire walked around the room, examining the paintings. There was only one picture of a woman. Claire figured that had to be Veronica, so she pressed the button below it. Just like the note had said, she was very beautiful, dressed in an old fashioned gown and sitting at a desk with a cup of tea.

"_That one was easy, but what about Stanley?_" She consulted the note. No physical description. All she knew was that he had twins, Arthur and Thomas. There was a painting of a man with two children. "_Gotta be it._" Claire pushed the button under it. _"Thomas was next. He was given a teacup as a present, just like his father._" There was only one picture, other than Veronica's, who had a teacup in it. Claire pushed that one, then looked at the note for guidance. "_Thomas' twin brother Arthur took over._" Thomas had red hair, so Claire looked for similarity in the remaining paintings. There was a grumpy looking man with matching red hair, so Claire pushed the button below the painting of him.

Next was the co-founder of Umbrella, Edward. The note didn't describe him at all, so Claire was almost at a loss. All she knew about him was that he was Alfred's grandfather. She spotted an elderly man in a painting. She only had three more to go. She knew it wasn't Alfred's, and the other man in the painting had clothes that were a little more up to date, so she went ahead and pushed the button underneath the elderly man. Remembering the heat trap in the media room, Claire hoped pressing a switch out of order wouldn't be her last mistake.

Pressing the button underneath the presumed Alexander, a man in a dark suit, she pressed the button underneath Alfred. The wall it was set on began to turn, and Claire had to step back to avoid being pushed off the raised part of the floor. The wall fully rotated and revealed another painting. This one was of a beautiful young girl, who looked about fifteen. Claire recognized her instantly as the girl with Alfred in the movie she saw. Clad in a deep purple dress with long white opera gloves, she sat in the portrait, smiling.

"_Who is she?_" Claire wondered. If she was related to Alfred, who knew what kind of person she was? In the painting, the girl sat next to a lovely vase, with rich decorations down the side. The same vase was sitting on a platform below the painting. Claire picked it up and appreciated it's beauty. "_I hope this wasn't all for a hunk of porcelain._" She was a little disappointed. As Claire set it back on it's display, the vase slipped from her grasp. The leather of her biking gloves didn't provide much grip. The vase shattered on the floor.

"_Whoops!_" Claire thought guiltily. A sense of familiarity washed over her. This same thing happened to her when she was six; she had knocked over her mother's favorite glass vase. Thankfully, no one was here to spank her.

A flash of red glinted from the smashed rubble of the vase. Claire reached down and pulled it out. It was a model ant, encrusted with what looked like rubies, just like the one on display in the media room. It's abdomen was massive, and housed most of the jewels. Remembering some science facts, Claire guessed that it was a queen. She dropped it into her side pack. She wasn't going to leave empty handed, and the ant's legs were too sharp to put in her pocket.

Leaving the room with her new treasure, Claire headed to the secretary's office on the second floor. It was time to unlock the door with the Lugers. Approaching the magnificent golden emblem on the door, she dug the guns out of her side pack and stuck them in the slots on the door. A series of clicks sounded, and the door unlocked.

She had been right to assume that the previous room was a secretary's office. She was now in what could have been Alfred's private office. It looked like it was falling into ruin. The wallpaper was crumbling, and the carpet and furnishings were very disheveled. The couches and loveseats in the center of the office were dirty, and the books in the cases along the wall's were covered in dust. The circular office had a large window at one end, and the desk sat in front of it. Through the window, a bolt of lightening arced across the sky.

"_I hope it's not going to start raining again,_" Claire thought. She had had enough fun in the mud. Aside from the furniture, and what looked like a large clock, the room didn't have much in it. She saw a tiny glow in the window and realized the computer on the desk was still on. It was the only thing that looked like it had been used recently. Claire checked it out. It was on standby. The glow she had seen was the yellow status light on the modem. She turned the computer on, and as it warmed up, a snippet of the disturbing home video played on it's screen. Claire tried not to watch as the poor dragonfly she had seen earlier was devoured.

Once the computer was on, a prompt appeared on the desktop, asking for a four digit password. Next to the computers keyboard, there was a memo.

"First digit: left, right. Second digit: left. Third digit: right. Fourth digit: right, right, right." Claire read aloud. "_What the hell?_" She had no idea what to make of it. She was about to leave when she saw a blue light on the clock like object. Looking at it closer, Claire discovered that the clock was actually a large, old fashioned music box. There were three glowing buttons on it. Two buttons had arrows, pointing to either side of the music box, and the third said 'reset'. Claire pushed the left one, and a large dial rotated, revealing a number.

"_It rotated to the left...I got it!_"

Claire pushed the right button, and the dial rotated again, this time revealing the number 1. Mentally storing it, she pushed the left button, and this time, the number 9 appeared on the dial. Pressing the switch to the right, the dial revealed 7. Finally, she pressed it to the right three times, and the number 1 appeared again.

Walking back to the computer, she plugged 1971 into the box and hit enter. The computer processed, then acknowledged a correct password. The music box spun up and played a tune. Claire recognized it. It was the same tune she heard in the home movie. The song stopped and the music box shifted to the right, revealing a doorway carved into the wall.

As Claire began to walk around the desk, the window behind her shattered. A Bandersnatch flung itself into the middle of the room, and turned it's rubbery claw on Claire.


	16. Chapter 16

Grunting as razor glass showered her around her, Claire tried to dodge the Bandersnatch's swipe, but she was too slow. It backhanded her, and knocked her over the desk. She clipped the computer and brushed it off the desk. Landing hard on her tailbone, she cried out in pain. She hastily got her grenade launcher off of her shoulder, but as she pointed it at the creature rearing to strike again, she realized that if she fired, the blast would probably injure her, if not kill her instantly. The office was too small for the explosive weapon.

Claire dropped the launcher and crawled behind the desk as the Bandersnatch lashed out at her again. A third strike smashed part of the desk. Claire pulled out her handgun and stood up, firing at it. She hit it several times in the chest. It roared in pain and reached for her. Claire side stepped it's arm and ran past it as it retracted. As she reached the wall, the Bandersnatch spun and launched it's arm at her. Claire fell over and it's claw whizzed above her, gouging a chunk out of the wall above her. From a sitting position, she fired again and again until her gun was empty. Ejecting the spent magazine, she loaded her spare as fast as she could while the beast was stunned. After unloading a second clip into it's chest and face, the Bandersnatch fell over on the broken desk, dead.

Claire let her head tip back against the wall and she breathed deeply. That had been a close call. If she had been a little slower, she would have been dead. She tried to stand, but the pain in her lower back promptly sat her back down. Her tailbone had taken a serious pounding when she fell. Her entire upper left arm was throbbing from when the Bandersnatch struck her. Gingerly feeling it, she tried to sense any broken bones. Her arm felt solid enough, but the muscle of it was tender. There was an ugly welt already beginning to form.

"_Ouch..._" Claire thought and winced as she felt it. Her injuries were really starting to stack up. The bandage around the bite on her arm was falling off, so she discarded it. The bite was still covered in the First Aid Spray gel. It didn't look like it was getting infected.

Taking out the last box of ammunition from her side pack, Claire began to refill her gun's magazines as she sat against the wall. She used up half of it, then stuck the rest of it in her pack. She slid a filled one in and released the slide on the gun.

"_I'm running low,_" she thought to herself. "_I have to find more, or I'll be in trouble._" Her grenade launcher could fend off her larger enemies, but it would be a waste to use it on the many zombies roaming the place. Plus, she only had four rounds left.

Claire breathed deeply and forced herself to her feet. Pain shot through her lower back. She made a face, but maintained her composure. She walked past the dead Bandersnatch unsteadily and retrieved her grenade launcher from the floor, then walked through the doorway in the wall which the music box had concealed.

It was a small passage, with a black and white tiled floor. The entire outer wall was crumbling. Claire could see the night sky through the cracks. The lightening was becoming more and more frequent, and thunder was beginning to accompany it. Claire walked through a door at the end of the passage. By the time she passed through it, the pain began to dull in her back.

The sound of thunder was becoming deafening as Claire walked outside. She was moving through a covered wooden walkway. More lightening flashes briefly illuminated her path, and thunder rocked across the sky. Claire wasn't afraid of thunder or lightening, but being outside during it gave her a nervous feeling of exposure.

At the end of the wooden walkway was a set of steps. Claire began to ascend them. It had gotten colder since she was last outside, and a thick fog had moved in. Peering through the fog, Claire saw an ominous looking house partially obscured by it a short way up the hill in which the stairs were built into. Bolts of lightening arced around it in the sky. As the thunder roared, Claire froze.

Maniacal laughter echoed down the stairs over the sound of thunder.

"_That sounded like...Alfred?_" she thought to herself. "_It couldn't have been. His voice is high, but not _that _high. It was definitely a woman._" Either way, the laughter that Claire had heard sounded like the owner of it was insane. She proceeded up the stairs, not sure of why she was going closer to the house. Just the sight of it creeped her out. "_Get used to it, girl,_" she tried to tell herself, "_It's the only place you haven't searched yet. You're still two keys short for the airport._"

Claire reached the top of the stairs. The house was just above her on the hill. She was standing in what looked like a garden. There were no plants, but stone flower beds and statues adorned the whole area. Walking around a statue, an instinctive duck saved Claire's life. A Bandersnatch had been waiting for her. It's claw took off the torso of the statue she was behind. The stone maiden fell to the ground in pieces. Claire put some distance between her and the creature and put a grenade into it. The explosion mimicked the thunder still echoing.

To Claire's surprise, a second Bandersnatch was also skulking in the garden. She spotted it before it had a chance to strike, and felled it with a grenade. She loaded her second last shell into the gun and slung it over her shoulder again. If she didn't find more soon, she would be in big trouble if more bioweapons showed up.

Up another short set of stone stairs, Claire stood before the house. It looked even worse up close. It was already several years into ruin. Various plants had begun to take root on the sides, and some of the stones in the foundation were crumbling.

"_I really hope no one lives here,_" Claire thought nervously._ "But I was sure I heard that creepy __laugh_." The whole situation felt like an old horror movie: creepy house, lightening, and monsters. "_What's next, werewolves?_" Knowing Umbrella, Claire didn't put the idea out of her head completely.

Her heart pounding, Claire slowly slid open the green, weather beaten door of the house. The squeaky door hinge echoed loudly. The inside interior of the house was almost black. Her hand trembling, Claire reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the lucky family lighter. She rolled the igniter, and a flash and a spark later, the lighter dimly illuminated the house. Dozens of tiny lights blinked at her from the gloom.

Claire let out a small squeak. The first room of the house was full of dolls. There were tables, chairs, and couches, all over the room, and every single one of them was covered in dolls. Their glass eyes reflected the yellow light of Claire's lighter. Slowly, Claire looked around the room. The unblinking eyes filled the room, surrounding her. Her hand shook a little more violently.

"_Okay Claire, get a grip_" her conscience stammered to her body. "_You've been shooting zombies and monsters for the past few hours now. There's no way a bunch of old dolls are going to freak you out._" There was a twittering sound above her head. Claire looked up and saw that bats lined the rafters. "_Nothing to worry about..._"

Claire swallowed hard and nervously walked to a staircase in the center of the room. She had to get away from the dolls. No matter how hard she tried to comfort herself, she couldn't calm down. The sheer multitude of them was shocking. Claire never really played with dolls as a child, but even she knew that this was outrageous.

She walked slowly up the stairs, not wanting to blow her only source of light out. The stairs turned into a landing that ran around the room. Claire followed it. Sitting on a small table on a jutting balcony, there was a box of bullets. Claire reached to pick them up, and as she deposited them in her side pack, she let out a yelp, covering her mouth with her hand.

A large doll was suspended from the ceiling next to the balcony Claire was standing on. In the dim light, it looked almost human; like a large child. Ropes intertwined it's arms and legs; it looked like it was suspended in a spiders web.. It's smiling face stared at Claire. To add to the horror, something red that looked a lot like blood was smeared down the front of it's dress.

Quickly, Claire turned around, shoving the doll out of sight. She saw a door at the end of the landing and slipped through it. Claire heard a voice, and immediately shut her lighter and crouched low. There was an interior window on the wall in front of her. The hallway she was in split off left and right at it. Through the window, she saw movement.

"Keep focused, brother," the voice said. It was a woman. "Our enemy is only a little girl." She groaned, as if exasperated. "Oh, why is this taking so long?"

A male voice responded to the woman's. Claire recognized it instantly as Alfred's.

"My apologies, Alexia," he said, his voice dripping with sappiness. "But I have been doing my best." Claire crept up to the window and bladed herself along the wall beside it, listening in on the conversation. The woman spoke again, changing topics from their enemy, who Claire assumed to be herself. Alfred had called her Alexia.

"The revival of the Ashford family depends upon your success, brother," Alexia stated.

"I am aware of that, Alexia. I will revive the family name myself, and make you the master of the glorious Ashford family," Alfred responded, sounding as if he was groveling in front of her. Claire leaned her head and peeked into the window. She saw the back of a figure, and a flash of bright long blond hair.

"Do not worry, brother. I will handle both of them myself," Alexia stated. Claire saw the mass of blond hair twitch. She immediately ducked her head back from the window. "Who is there?" Alexia called at the window. Silently, Claire scurried down the hall and rounded the corridor, pressing her back against the wall. "Is someone in the corridor?"

There was a deathly silence. For a second, Claire thought she had been discovered. Then she heard Alfred's voice float down the hall.

"What is it Alexia?" Another pause.

"N...Nothing. I believe I must have been imagining things. Let us go, brother." Claire heard a door open, then close. Footsteps drew dangerously close, then faded as they left through the door to the hallway. Claire breathed a sigh of relief. Next to her was a door which presumably led to where Alexia and Alfred were talking. She pulled out her gun.

Claire might have imagined it, but she had only heard one set of footsteps; she didn't want to get surprised.


	17. Chapter 17

Slowly and quietly, Claire tightened her hand around the door knob. She twisted it, and shoved the door open and lunged into the room, pointing her gun in all directions. The room was empty. It was a lot smaller than Claire had thought.

"_There must be two rooms,_" she thought, retracting her handgun to her shoulder. She remembered how the hallway had branched into two directions. The entrance to the other room must be there. She looked around. The room was a bedroom. A large four poster bed was tucked in the corner. There was a dresser and a small desk, with a jewelry box and a mirror. High class carpet colored purple and deep crimson wallpaper adorned the floor and walls.

After her initial lunge into the room, Claire realized that music was playing. A large music box was centered on the wall opposite the bed. It was another old fashioned one; it was basically a large wooden box that came up to Claire's waist. The top opened up, and a large metal plate, covered with ridges was slowly spinning, plucking the strings to the box. Claire frowned. It was the same tune she had been hearing all over the place. On the underside of the open lid was a small plaque with writing:

"_Red queen and blue king return, the path opens,_"

"_Well, they left anyway, so I don't think they'll mind if I switch this thing off,_" Claire thought crossly to herself. She was a little sick of the melody. Spotting the switch on the inside, she flicked it. The music box stopped stopped abruptly, and the music faded. As Claire withdrew her hand, the lid snapped shut, almost on top of her wrist. She heard a series of locks click. "_What the hell?_" Before she had time to ponder, there was a groan of wood behind her. Claire turned and saw that she had overlooked the bed.

The canopy of the bed had been lowered onto the mattress. Now, it was raising along the four wooden posts at it's corners. Claire spotted a glint of silver lying amidst the white comforter. Picking it up, she found that it was a silver key. It was identical to the gold one she found in the Military Training Facility, except of course that it was silver instead of gold.

"_Must be another key to the palace,_" Claire dropped it in her pocket. There was the sound of breaking wood, and the canopy collapsed back on the mattress. Claire jumped in surprise. "_Bad carpenters,_" she thought when her heart rate returned to normal. Oddly enough, after the canopy had collapsed, Claire spotted a ladder tucked into the wall. It was connected to the bed's canopy. Leaning over the collapsed canopy, Claire looked to see where the ladder led to. It simply stopped; the ceiling was sealed.

Turning back to the music box, Claire saw that it was encrusted with red jewels. In the center, there was an oblong indentation.

"_Wait, what did it say?_" she thought. "_Um...red queen and blue king?_" She pulled the jeweled ant from her side pack. "_As in queen ant?_" she thought smugly. She dropped it on the indentation, and the ant's large abdomen fit perfectly into it. The locks on the music box released, and it opened again. "_Hmmm...not really sure what the whole point of that was._" Claire looked at the plaque in the box again. "_The path opens...maybe there's something hidden here._" Whatever it was, Claire needed to find a blue king. She left the bedroom, walked down the hall to where she believed another door to be. Sure enough, there was.

Bashing open the door again, she found another empty bedroom. It was almost identical to the previous one; there were only a few minute differences. On the desk was a card. Claire picked it up and read it aloud.

**My dear brother,**

**I firmly believe that the glory of the Ashford family will be revived through your courage and strength as an honored soldier.**

**Yours faithfully,**

**Alexia Ashford**

"_I guess they're brother and sister._" It looked as if they had a relation just like her and Chris. Both of them loved each other deeply. "_I bet that Alexia is the girl in the movie._" Claire felt chilled as she remembered her sinister smile. "_They look like they could be twins._" That meant that Alexia was probably just as bad as Alfred.

Unlike the other room, the music box was closed, and was encrusted with blue gems instead of red ones. There was also a smaller indentation on the lid, instead of the large oblong one. Claire figured that this is where the king ant would go. She thoroughly searched the room. The note card hinted that this was Alfred's room, so Claire figured that she might find the airport keys here. Unfortunately, she found nothing. A little disappointed, Claire decided to leave. She had a new key to search more in the palace.

Heading back through the hall way, she hurried through the room with the dolls. They still unnerved her, but now the whole house was beginning to creep her out. The music box, the plotting Ashfords, and the twittering bats, were the only ambient noises. Now that the two former were gone, the whole house was almost as silent as a tomb. With what the Ashfords were saying, the entire residence almost seem to reek with evil. Claire hoped that she wouldn't have to come back.

Carefully progressing through the stone garden, she kept her eyes open for the evil siblings. Claire progressed through the office, then the secretary's office. When she opened the door, Claire almost ran headlong into a zombie. If she hadn't been on guard, it would have taken a bite out of her neck. Claire shot it through the head. Another one was shuffling across the balcony. The silver crested door was behind it. Claire dropped it and pulled out the key. Two more zombies were roaming on the first floor. Their moans echoed hollowly in the big lobby, but Claire ignored them; they didn't notice her, and they were too far away to be a threat.

Sliding the key into the lock, she turned it smoothly. Claire opened the door and stepped into what was a small casino. She didn't know why there was one on an island like this.

"_Probably for visitors. But who would want to visit?_" Claire knew the answer already: Umbrella executives. They needed a way to kill time in between evaluating the sick experiments that were done. There were a few slot machines, but only one of them was on. There was also a roulette table, a blackjack table, a bar, and a piano. Claire saw the bar and suddenly realized that she was thirsty. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since early that morning, when they transported her to the island.

She rummaged through a few cabinets behind it and found a bottle of water. It was sealed, so Claire figured that it was safe to drink. She took a long swig and sighed in relief. It hit the spot.

At first, Claire didn't find anything interesting in the casino until she examined the piano. Other than the fact that it was a self playing one, and the guide roll was missing from it's slot, there was a thick wire that ran down one of it's legs. Claire spotted it when she dropped the cap to her water bottle. The wire disappeared under the carpet. Feeling for it with her hand, Claire traced it to the slot machine that was on. The two of them were linked, but Claire didn't know why.

Finishing her water, Claire left the casino and headed to the first floor. After emptying her handgun into the two zombies, she headed to the second door with a silver crest. It was in the hallway that lead to the media room and the gallery of the Ashford legacy. Claire unlocked the door, but stopped before she opened it. She heard movement inside. It was too big to be human, and too precise to be mindless shuffling.

Claire unslung her grenade launcher, and quietly opened the door. She guessed right: somehow, two Bandersnatches had gotten into a locked room. Quickly locking on to the first one, she fired before they noticed her. It disintegrated in a loud explosion. The other looked around dumbly, started by the explosion. It spotted Claire as she closed the chamber with her last round. It clawed at her, it's arm stretching across a row of tables. Claire dove to the side, and the creature's claw punched a large hole in the wall. Propping the launcher on the table, Claire fired and annihilated the remaining one. Ejecting the empty casing, she sighed.

"_That's it, I'm out._" She had used up her best weapon. Finding ammo for it would be a top priority. "_If only Steve was here, we could pool our resources. Those sub machine guns I gave him would be a big help._" She wondered if he was okay. There hadn't been any sign of him since she left him in the motor pool.

Tucking her empty launcher over her shoulder, Claire walked along the rows of tables.

"_This must be a conference room,_" she thought, looking up and down the lengths of them. It was a cliché type of room. The tables were set in a large 'U'. Claire could picture a dozen of Umbrella higher-ups sitting around them, plotting to take over the world. In the center of the room, in between the tables, etched into the decorated carpet, sat the crest of an eagle clutching a halberd. Claire saw a familiar flash of indigo blue.

There was another eagle plate set into the floor, on top of the emblem. Claire pried it out with her finger nails.

"_Another one?_" she wondered. "_Why would they need two? It seems like a security risk to have a spare key lying around._" The first eagle plate had only unlocked the panel on the balcony, but still, it wasn't like Umbrella to do something like have keys laying around everywhere. Claire debated taking it with her. If she found something that needed it, she would be prepared. On the other hand if it _was_ a spare, she would be carrying dead wait, and wasting precious space on herself. As she stood there contemplating, the answer hit her.

Back when the whole nightmare started, when she was standing in the rain inside the prison complex...

_...a door which had peculiar blue shield inscribed on the front._

Although she was excited at the new lead she just remembered, Claire groaned. The last place she wanted to go was back to the prison. But like it or not, the stinking place might have some answers there. She suddenly slapped herself on the forehead.

"_Rodrigo! Oh God, I almost forgot about him_!" she thought, panicked. She turned and ran out of the conference room. She had the medicine that could save his life, and she got sidetracked.

Claire bolted out of the palace, both the eagle plate and Hemostatic medicine in her side pack, and headed back to the Rockfort prison complex.


	18. Chapter 18

By the time Claire reached the metal staircase built into the side of the cliff, she was out of breath. She paused at the top of them, her hand on the railing, doubled over panting. Gulping in the cool night air burned her lungs, but she had to get her wind back quickly.

"_I just hope he's not dead,_" thought Claire, thinking desperately of Rodrigo. If he was, she wasn't sure how she would deal with herself. She forced herself to straighten, and ignored the pain in her side. She jogged down the metal steps to the iron bridge. The hole in the middle of it had gotten bigger, and the jeep that was balanced precariously was gone. Claire once again took the service catwalk that ran along the side of the bridge. She could see the large prison gate ahead of her, still ajar from when she escaped only a few hours earlier. Just outside the gate, Claire doubled over again.

After she regained her breath, she pulled out her handgun. Wiping the sweat off of her brow and still panting, she crept through the door. Three zombies were shuffling in the yard past the gate. Recalling the layout of the prison complex from earlier, Claire recognized the door that led to the cemetery. Past the cemetery is where she left Rodrigo. Charging the zombie in front of the door, she felled it with a few shots. Claire went through the door before the others could advance on her.

"_Jeez, there's more in here?_" Claire thought. The corpses that Claire had slain on her first pass were still lying there, but more decomposing horrors were wandering in between the tombstones of the disgusting cemetery. "_They must have pulled themselves out of their graves,_" she figured. Claire noted the irregular holes near some tombstones. All of the zombies standing were in various states of decomposition. Claire even spotted one with no jaw bone.

The zombies began to shuffle towards her, forming uneven lines. Claire began to fire on them. Their thick blood spattered everywhere as she carved a hole in their ranks. She used up her first clip, then popped in her spare. Using half of it, she gunned down more, then ran in between them. She ran past the crashed truck which had contained the TG-01, then down the stairs towards the holding area.

Claire disappeared into the dark hallway, only to reappear some distance down it in the light of her lighter. She shoved open the metal door and stepped into the cell block. Sure enough, Rodrigo was still there. He was still sitting, sprawled out over the desk. As Claire approached, his head jerked up and he pointed his gun at her. Claire jumped in surprise. As soon as his weary eyes saw her, he sighed and lowered both his gun and his head.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his words slurring a bit. Claire looked down and saw that the wound in his gut had turned the lower half of his white shirt dark red. He still hadn't been able to stop the bleeding entirely. Without speaking Claire circled the desk and set the bottle of Hemostatic medicine in front of him. Rodrigo lifted his head and eyed the bottle in wonder. "Hemostatic medicine...how...kind of you. Thanks." He set his gun down in his lap, and twisted the cap. Claire could tell he was very weak.

"Here," she said, smiling kindly and putting her lighter down on the desk, "let me help you with that." Rodrigo pulled the bottle away, as if she was going to snatch it from him.

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself. Just _go_." Claire made a reach to pick her lighter back up then stopped. She remembered how dark it was without it. Rodrigo had been sitting in here for hours, alone and in the dark. "Keep it," she said, nodding towards the lighter on the desk. "It was a gift form my brother, but..." That was true. It was passed to her from Chris. Claire would never willing part with anything that was associated with him, but Rodrigo needed more than she did. Now was not the time to be selfish.

Rodrigo smiled for once. "Thanks." He dug into his back pocket for something. "Here, let me give you this in return." He held out his hand and dropped a set of lockpicks into Claire's. "You might need it later on. Now go, don't worry about me."

Claire felt that she should do something more, but decided not to. She left Rodrigo in the light of her lighter and headed back through the dark hallway, then up the stairs to the cemetery. After gunning another hole for herself in the undead, she began her trek back to where she saw the blue shield indentation.

The zombie dog in the prison barracks was gone, but Claire still climbed the chain link fence. It was quicker than walking around it. Almost tripping in the still damp mud, Claire pushed through the next door.

In the area around the office building, Claire found the blood splattered guillotine. The door was behind it. Seeing the blue shield again confirmed her theory She pulled the metal plate from her side pack and slid it into the indentation, then gave it a tap with her fist. The doors' lock released, and slowly slid to the side.

A zombie lunged out from the still moving door and almost tackled Claire. She lunged back, sliding in the mud. Her foot left a long brown skid on the ground. The zombie latched on her leg and tried to bite. Claire managed to shake it off and kick it in the face. As she did, she slipped and fell on her butt. The zombie reached for her again, grabbing her leg a second time. Claire grunted and kicked at it again, keeping it's deadly teeth away from her. Another zombie stumbled out of the door and shuffled over it's fallen companion.

Scrabbling around for her gun, Claire found it and picked it up. It was splattered with mud. She fired on the second one, hitting it cleanly between the eyes. She trained the gun on the zombie on the ground, now crawling towards her. She executed it with a shot to the head.

Panting lightly from the struggle, Claire did her best to wipe the gun clean on her jeans. She pulled back the slide on her gun, and the chambered bullet popped out. Claire caught it before it fell on the ground. She released the slide, chambering the next round. "_Alright, the slide isn't jammed._" She ejected the magazine and put the bullet back in, then the magazine back in. "_and the magazine goes in and out smoothly. I should be good._"

Claire proceeded through the door that was hidden behind the door with the indentation. On the other side, there was a small ally between the office building on her right, and a single story red brick building on her left. The office buildings windows were sealed by metal shudders. "_This must be the other side of the metal detector hallway_" she realized. That hallway was filled with corpses. Only two were wandering outside in the ally. Claire executed both of them with shots to the head.

At the end of the alley were several stacks of boxes. Some of them were blocking a door. Claire grabbed the corners of the nearest one and pulled it out into the alley. Taking hold of the next box, she shoved it against the wall. The door was now unobstructed. Claire went through it, and found a surprise.

She was back in the office where she saw Steve on the computer looking at Chris's file. Claire sat down on the desk with the computer and pulled out a box of bullets from her side pack, then proceeded to fill her magazines. She tossed the empty box aside, and went out the door where she knew the 3-D duplicator sat. She hadn't gotten a chance to thoroughly examine the place before.

The shrill alarm of the metal detector was audible in the office, and now it was almost deafening. Claire did her best to ignore it as she scoured the room. The First Aid Spray she had used was still there, so she placed it in her side pack. In the corner of the room, tucked behind a box, Claire was delighted to find a case of grenade rounds. She eagerly pried off the cap and found six rounds. Unlike the ones she had used before, which were painted dull gray, these were painted bright red. Dismissing this detail, she placed the rounds in her bandolier. She didn't find anything else, so she left back through the office.

Her ears ringing slightly from the alarm, Claire found the door to the red building. As soon as she opened the old wooden door, a putrid smell hit Claire's nostrils. "_Ugh, God! What is that stench?_" Claire clasped a hand over her nose and mouth, and tried to sniff the leather of her glove instead. It didn't work. The sharp, acrid scent of chemicals was abundant in the room. Even worse, the scent of decomposing flesh was intertwined with it.

On the outside, the building had been made of brick. The inside, however, was wood paneled. The whole place looked rotted. The old wooden floor boards under Claire's feet groaned as she stepped on them. Walking around a wooden room divider, Claire realized she was in some kind of infirmary.

"_Do they actually treat people here?_" Claire thought, disgusted. "_It looks like this place would cause more disease than cure it." _Cabinets lined the walls, filled with bottles of chemicals. Past the divider was a table filled with trays of instruments. A lot of them were scalpels, and all of them were stained with blood. Next to the trays was a cot, and on it was a body.

The body was wearing a prisoner's uniform. He had been sliced from the stomach to his neck and spread apart. Almost all of his internal organs were visible. The frozen look on his face and the position of his body indicated that he had been vivisected.

Claire took one look at this horror and shut her eyes. Her hand still covering her nose and mouth, she tried to block the mental image in her head. The smell had already began to churn her stomach, and now seeing the body had almost pushed Claire over the edge. Several seconds later, she lost the battle. Turning around and gagging, she stumbled to the corner, dropped to her knees, and vomited.

She spat and wiped her watering eyes. "_I really didn't need to see that._" Now her throat burned from her stomach acid. She spit again and stood back up, then marched past the cot without looking. There was another divider that divided the room. On another cot lay a black body bag. There was definitely something in it. In an alcove next to a door were stacks of empty ones. Claire opened the door, and a wave of heat hit her. As she shut the door behind her, Claire thought she heard a rustling sound behind her, but her mind was quickly occupied by the contents of the new room.

Claire had walked straight into hell. The blistering heat in the room was caused by a large furnace in the middle of the room. This was the prison's crematorium. Blood was splattered on every wall, across the floor, and even on the ceiling. Two large spikes were set into the stone floor, also covered in blood. The fire in the furnace was out of control, spilling out onto a conveyor belt that was sticking into it. A pile of ash that looked horribly like a human figure was splayed on it.

Claire gasped in horror. "_What the hell is this place?_" She didn't have time to ponder the answer. The room was full of corpses; a total of four were already heading straight for her. She fell against the wall, and raised her gun. Firing it, she clipped the first zombie twice in the chest. Claire refined her aim and line up it's head, then squeezed off a round. In a spray of blood, it collapsed. It's companions walked over it's twitching body as they advanced on Claire. She quickly aimed for the head of the next one and opened fire. After the third shot, she managed to drop it. One of the burning zombies payed no attention to the flames consuming it's body and raised it's arms. Claire lunged forward and kicked it in the chest, knocking it over. As it fell, it bumped into the remaining zombie and knocked it off balance.

Claire took this opportunity, and shot the zombie through the eye. The one on the ground tried to sit up, but Claire planted her boot firmly on it's chest and held it down. She quickly fired a round into it's skull. Now that all the corpses had been disposed of, Claire wanted to leave as fast as possible.

First, though, she took the time to replace the bullet in her magazine. "_If the rest of the place is like this, I don't want to be caught off guard,_" she thought as her thumb shoved the rounds into the magazine. The foul smell of burning flesh was making Claire's stomach twinge again. If she didn't get out of the crematorium fast, she would probably be retching in the corner again. She slapped the magazine back into the gun, and burst through the door.

Although the putrid odor was still lingering, Claire was glad to be out of the heat. She wiped the light sweat from her forehead, then froze and listened. She could hear a wet chewing sound emanating from somewhere in the room.

On the cot in front of her was the body bag that she passed. "_Wasn't there something in there when I passed?_" With a sense of dread in her stomach, Claire crept around the wooden divider. Her mouth opened in a combination of horror and disgust.

A zombie was leaning over the anatomized corpse on the cot. It was digging it's teeth into it's exposed innards. It was wearing a long white lab coat, stained with blood, dirt and ash. Underneath the coat was a dress shirt and tie, mauled by a massive wound to the zombie's stomach. It stopped feasting on the corpse's body and slowly turned to look at Claire. One of it's eyes was pale white, but the other was perfectly blue. It lunged for Claire, knocking over an IV stand. It's speed was incredible.

Claire was taken off guard, and didn't get her gun up in time. The zombie almost tackled her to the ground. Claire screamed in surprise and horror as it's bleeding mouth came inches from her throat. Claire stumbled back, the zombie still latched onto her, and hit a row of cabinets. The glass doors shattered under their weight. Claire shoved with all her might, and managed to push both of them away from the razor shards. Her gun had fallen to the floor when the zombie had lunged for her.

The zombie snarled at her, more blood and fluid spurting from it's mouth as it tried to bite Claire's neck. It threw it's weight on her again, and she collapsed under it. Claire grunted as she now battled against the thing's decomposing muscles and the gravity assisting it. The zombie didn't hold her, but clawed madly at her body, trying to draw itself closer. Claire tried to kick it off of her, but was unsuccessful. She turned her head and saw her gun a ways to her side. Sparing one arm, she reached for it, but it was a few feet away from her grasp. She quickly retracted her arm and continued to wrestle with the zombie.

Grunting in effort, she tried once again to throw it off of her. "_Ugh...dammit! It's stronger than the others!_" The blood that was fresh from it's mouth was dripping onto Claire's neck and face. She shook her head and tried to keep it out of her eyes. "_Can't get it off, so I'll have to take it with me!_" Claire focused her energy on trying to slide along the floor. The zombie still stayed planted on her, snarling like a feral animal. She moved all of a few inches. Grunting, she tried to slide again. Slowly, she was getting closer to her gun. "_Oh God no..._"

The body on the cot had reanimated. A loud thud had drawn Claire's attention to it as it fell off the cot. It's internal organs were splayed out on the floor and trailed behind it as it slowly crawled closer to Claire and the psychotic zombie. Claire intensified her struggle to inch closer to her gun. Every time she moved a few inches closer to it, the anatomized zombie also inched closer. When she was half a foot from it, Claire felt the second zombie grab her foot. She shook it loose and stretched. Her hand touched the butt of her gun.

"_Come on...Come on!_" She strained one last time and her hand closed around the handle of her Beretta. At the same time, her grip weakened on the clawing zombie on top of her. As she pointed the gun clumsily with her left hand, she felt teeth close on her shoulder, then flaming pain. Claire shrieked and fired into the corpse on the ground. Before she confirmed it's death, she pointed the gun to the head of the zombie on top of her. It had just drawn back it's head; a large portion of flesh in it's teeth. She pulled the trigger and the top of it's head vanished. The zombie went limp and collapsed on top of her.

Whimpering, Claire shoved the body off of her in disgust, then crawled to a small doorway. Almost blinded by pain, her left hand clutched to her shoulder, and ample amounts of blood seeped between her fingers. She propped herself against the door frame, then closed her eyes and tried to get a handle on herself. Her breathing slowed and she stopped whimpering, but the pain in her shoulder was extraordinary. She peeked under her cupped hand, then looked away in horror.

The zombie had almost taken a piece right out of her. The fabric from her shirt was ripped away near her shoulder, and there were large gouges where it's teeth had bitten into her arm. An irregular circle of her skin was gone, and it was spurting blood all down her arm.

Claire banged her head against the door frame, trying to distract herself from the pain. The bite was bad enough, but Claire knew what she had to do next would be just as bad. Her hand left her wound and took the bottle of First Aid Spray from her side pack.

"_Oh God, this is going to be bad..._" she thought, grimacing to herself. She looked around, and saw an old desk within reach. She weakly pulled herself up with one arm, saw what she was looking for, then sat back down. She reached up, and procured a wooden ruler. Placing it between her lips, she bit down on it. Her hand trembled as it held the spray over the wound. "_One...two...three!_"

Claire screamed through her impromptu wooden gag and bit hard into it. She could feel her teeth almost break it. The spray on the bite was almost worse than the bite itself. Claire felt as if her entire shoulder had been dipped in a vat of acid. Concentrating violently on continuing to spray, she managed to get all of it covered before dropping the empty can. Her hand clutched her elbow, so as not to clutch her wound. Several painful seconds later, the acidic pain changed to a dull one. Claire let the ruler fall from her mouth and ventured another look at her shoulder. Her shoulder was now covered in the white gel of the First Aid Spray. The trails of blood that were flowing from the wound were beginning to dry, leaving crimson streaks down the length of her arm. Claire tried to shut the pain out of her head and stood up shakily.

The cluttered desk had a diary sitting on it. "_A little reading will help the pain,_" Claire thought as she picked it up and opened it. It belonged to the anatomist. Claire guessed that that was the zombie in the white lab coat that had almost killed her. The diary didn't start out on a good note.

"There is a demon in my mind..." Claire read. "...With the demon next to me, I enjoy watching men as they agonize in pain, screaming and convulsing as they die." Claire shuddered and read on. It looked like Alfred had a secret with him. There was a "sacred place" that the anatomist kept secret in return for equipment he got from Alfred. "I swear the basement of this medical building will be kept secret. Of course, I keep the key to the sacred place with me at all times..." She closed the diary and tossed it back on the desk.

On the wall next to the desk was a creepy statue of a human body. It was a detailed map of the human muscle system. One of it's eyes was missing. The eye that was there was a piercing blue that almost matched Claire's. Claire groaned.

"_He said he kept the key on him at all times..._" She walked back to the corpse of the anatomist. The blood from it's massive head wound had pooled several feet on the rotted wooden planks. Claire stuck her boot under it's chest and heaved it over on it's back. Staring hauntingly at her was the blue eye. Claire grimaced and squatted down, not wanting to kneel in blood. She pulled out her knife from it's sheath and lined the point on the side of the body's eye socket. She closed her eyes and heard a sickening squelch as the knife penetrated it's socket. Clare took a deep breath of the foul air and reached and felt wet flesh on her fingers. She pried with the knife, and she felt the eye come loose. It was glass.

Quickly turning away, she stuck the bloody glass eye in the other socket of the statue. The wall behind her raised, revealing a staircase. Gun in hand, Claire strode down them. Through a dark hallway, she came to a door.

Inside was a richly decorated room. For a second, Claire thought she was back in the palace. On either side of her were small pools of water. After emptying her gun into the three zombies in the room, Claire noticed that there were old torture devices adorning the room. Most prominent was a cage hanging by a winch above one of the pools of water, and a metal rack hooked to an electrical box. There was a comfy armchair with a bottle of wine sitting on an end table in the middle of it all.

"_I guess this is the 'sacred spot' that Alfred wanted kept secret._" Claire thought. "_Sick bastard..._" Claire spotted a doorway that led to another flight of stairs. She pushed through a rusted door.

In a small room sat three statues of men: two were in a corner, kneeling and presenting armor to a carving of a man in a wall. The third statue was holding a shield, facing the opposite wall. The carving in the wall was holding a rusted sword. Claire examined each statue, looking for anything suspicious. When she examined the carving, she noticed that the sword was loose. She gently tugged it, and it came free.

Immediately, Claire heard the sound of a lock clicking and grinding stone. The statue of the man holding a shield had risen on a pedestal. A thick bar was protruding from the side. She ran to the door and found that it was indeed locked. "_Shit!_" A hissing noise sounded, and a thick, yellow gas began to spurt from vents along the floor. Claire dropped the sword and pulled on the door. It wasn't going to open. Looking wildly for another way out, Claire spotted the bar jutting from the statue. Acting on an impulse, she threw her weight against it, and to her surprise, the statue began to rotate. The gas was settling on the floor, and creeping higher. It was already to Claire's knees. "_Ugh, I am sick of all this crap!_"

Despite her griping, she continued to push. When the statue faced the now swordless carving, Claire heard fans turn on, and the gas was sucked back into the vents. The shield statue lowered again. The carving rotated, revealing a closed iron maiden.

Claire tried the door again but found it locked. She spotted a slot in the iron maiden, so she picked up the sword. "_Hell, may as well try._" She thrust the sword into the slot, and she heard the lock release on the door. As she stepped back, the iron maiden swung open, and a disoriented zombie almost knocked Claire over. The sword she had just stuck in the iron maiden was protruding from it's stomach. Dodging the zombie, Claire grabbed the object she saw laying at the bottom of the metal casket. Of all things, it was a piano roll.

"_Now why the heck is this way out here?_" Claire wondered as she blew through the door, leaving the impaled zombie in her dust. "_It's probably for that piano back in the palace._" Claire laughed in spite of her aching shoulder. "_Umbrella...how can something so evil be so impractical?_"

On her way out of the medical building, Claire grabbed a roll of bandages from one of the broken cabinets and wrapped her shoulder. She ran through the prison alleyways, hopped the chain link fence, and slipped through the main gate. Once again taking the maintenance catwak on the iron bridge, she climbed the metal staircase built into the cliff, then hoofed it towards the palace.

She walked up the steps and was about to pull open the palace doors when a sinister voice floated out from the darkness.

"Greetings..."

Claire turned around and squinted. Someone was walking into the courtyard from a smashed entrance. In the darkness, she couldn't make out who it was.

The voice spoke again. "You must be the _lovely_ Claire Redfield."

Claire's heart rate quickened. Whoever it was knew her name. It also didn't sound like Alfred. This voice was powerful and commanding "Who're you?" she demanded. The figure progressed closer, coming into the light.

"Let's just say that I'm a ghost, coming back to haunt your _dear _brother."

The figure stepped into the light, revealing his features. He was clad in all black: black combat boots ran up to his calves, with black military fatigues tucked into them. He had a black short sleeved shirt on with a tactical vest over it and black gloves. Even though it was night, the man wore black sunglasses. The only thing about him that wasn't shaded black was his hair, which was blond and gelled back.

It took Claire a second, but she recognized him. She had seen him in the photo that Chris had given her awhile back. It had the entire S.T.A.R.S team on it. This man had been standing in the row behind Chris and to his right. This isn't what troubled Claire; it was what was written in Chris's diary. It had said not to trust...

"Wesker?"


	19. Chapter 19

Wesker smiled broadly and casually strolled towards Claire in long strides.

"It seems there's not much explaining to do is there?" he said. "I'm the one who attacked this island."

He climbed the few stairs that led to the palace door and Claire. Claire realized that her mouth was hanging slightly open in confusion and snapped it shut. Chris's diary hadn't gone into details, but it had said that Wesker was responsible for the death of the S.T.A.R.S. The part of the whole thing that was confusing Claire was that Chris's diary had said that Wesker _died_ at the mansion. Yet here he was.

Wesker stepped closer to Claire, now standing in the same circle of light as her. He was still smirking.

"Who'd have thought _you'd _be hanging about." he stopped in front of Claire, who promptly took a step back.

Her boot hit the foot of the door. There was something about him that she didn't like, other than the fact that she knew he was supposed to be dead. Wesker laughed suddenly, as if staring at Claire covered in scratches, bruises, and grime was the funniest thing in the world. His laugh made Claire back against the door harder. Just the sound of it made her nervous.

"All the better for me," Wesker said, grinning again. Claire thought that the way he smiled gave him the appearance of a fiendish wolf. "Now that the cat dragged in this nice surprise, your ever so _caring_ brother will definitely show up. I must thank you for being such good bait."

"_Bait? What is he talking about?_"

Confused, Claire was getting a little sick of how he was mocking Chris.

"I don't know what went on between you two," she snapped a little harsher than she intended, "but you have him all wrong! My brother is not the kind of person you think he is ugh-"

Even before she had stopped talking, Wesker reached out and grabbed Claire by the jaw. She grunted in pain as he yanked her away from the door. He cocked his head, and his features went from calm and cool to angry and fiery. Claire grabbed his arm and tried to pull it away but found that she couldn't. His arm was as solid as rock. Wesker pulled his face close to hers.

"I DESPISE Chris!" he growled. Claire furrowed her brow in anger and snarled at Wesker. His hand on her jaw made it difficult to speak.

"Ugh...What're you going to do to him?!" she managed to say.

In an instant, Wesker released his grip on Claire, drew back his hand, and back handed her across the face. Claire yelped and lost sight of her surroundings as her vision blacked out from what felt like a semi colliding with her skull. She felt herself sail through the air and land on hard stone. She grunted as she landed in a heap. Her brain feeling like jelly, she tried to prop herself up and get back up.

Wesker's strike had easily knocked Claire twenty feet, off the steps and into the courtyard. He now slowly walked back down the stairs and headed to her writhing form. Claire heard his footsteps behind her, and turned to look. He was already upon her. She fell back on her hands and tried to push herself back, but the world had turned hazy, and Wesker was a shifting image in her eyes. She managed to scuttle back about an inch, and completely forgot about her weapons.

Wesker raised his boot and brought it down on Claire's injured shoulder. Claire gasped as stinging pain shot through her nerves from the zombie anatomist's bite. Wesker began to grind his boot into her shoulder. The heavy treads had no mercy on her wound. Claire cried out and tried to push his leg off of her.

"Oh, how your brother will _weep_ to see you die..." Wesker said. He let out a sadistic chuckle. As he laughed, there was an airy beep. Wesker's head snapped straight and he pressed his finger to his ear grumbling.

"What?..." he said, speaking into his raido, then listened for a bit; his eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

Mercifully, as he talked, he stepped off of Claire. She clutched her shoulder with her mouth open in gaping pain. She had started to cry. Through her tears, she saw Wesker had his back turned to her. Now was her chance to try and run. Fighting through the pain and fog in her head, she rolled over and pushed herself up on her hands and knees.

"Stay there, I'm coming," said Wesker, finishing his conversation with whoever he was talking to. His head turned and he eyed Claire through his sunglasses. Her own eyes widened as they locked onto her.

Wesker hopped around and kicked. His boot arced through the air and across Claire's face. Just as her head had cleared, it was once again thrown into mist. Claire jerked to the side and collapsed to the ground groaning. She saw Wesker walking away from her through her swimming vision.

"It appears you may be of some further use to me," he said slowly. "I'm going to let you live...a little longer."

He turned to Claire and grinned again. Perhaps it was the trauma to her head, but Claire's face suddenly showed fear; she had thought she had seen a red glow pierce through Wesker's sunglasses. Her horror turned to amazement as he leaped into the air, clearing both stone walls that surrounded the courtyard, and vanished.

Claire held herself up for a few seconds, then collapsed back to the ground. Her jaw felt like it was in a thousand pieces. After lying there for about a minute, her vision stopped swimming, and her head cleared, although she had the biggest headache yet.

"_Great,_" she thought as she propped herself up again, "_Now I've got _two_ psychopaths to worry about._"

What worried her more was that Wesker sounded like he was after Chris. Claire had already tried to contact him. If she was lucky, he was already on his way. Now she was wishing she hadn't emailed Leon. She needed to keep Wesker away from Chris.

Claire turned her head and tentatively felt her jaw. She winced as she prodded it, then moved it around. It hurt like hell, but she hoped that it wasn't broken. As she checked herself, she noticed a small green speck to her side, near the other end of the courtyard. It was sitting on what looked like a loose cobblestone tile.

"I don't believe it," she said out loud as she recognized the hexagonal shape.

Claire got shakily to her feet, then stumbled over to the object. It was another of the three airport keys. It was made of the same material of the one in her side pack. This one had a green stone and had a picture of a submarine etched into it.

"_Only one more..._"

Despite the beating she just received, Claire felt that her luck was changing again. She shook the last of the stars out of her eyes, and headed back to the palace doors, stuffing the key into her side pack next to the other one.

Claire jogged up the steps inside the palace lobby and headed into the casino. She walked over to the piano and fished the piano roll out of her pack, then stuck it in the empty slot. She wasn't sure how to activate the piano, but it must have already been wound up, or whatever made it run, because the roll turned and the piano began to play. The ivory keys moved up and down, as if a ghost was playing it. Claire wasn't surprised to hear that the song it played.

As the piano played grandly, Claire checked out the slot machine that was connected to it. At first, she was dismayed that nothing had changed about it. No special lights came on, the reels didn't flash; nothing. Then she noticed a small cabinet at the bottom. It was ajar. Squatting down and opening it, she reached inside and pulled out a small object.

Sitting in the brown leather of her glove was another jewel encrusted ant like the one hidden in the vase. This one didn't have a queen's bloated abdomen, and was set with blue sapphires that match Claire's eyes perfectly.

"_The king ant!_" Claire thought excitedly, remembering the blue gems on the locked music box in the Ashford residence.

Claire dropped the ant into her side pack and headed for the secretary's office with the Luger door. She readied her Beretta, then passed through into the main office and through it's secret passage.

Zombies had infiltrated the wooden walkway. Five of them were now wandering back and forth aimlessly. Claire took aim and began firing, aiming for their heads. As she dropped one, she moved up with her Beretta in front of her like a trained soldier. Continuing the pattern of killing one and moving up, she changed magazines after the third one collapsed. With a fresh round of bullets, she made quick work of the remaining two.

At the end of the walkway, Claire jogged up the steps towards the creepy Ashford residence. She began to advance through the ruined garden. The corpses of the Bandersnatches she previously blew apart still rotted. A sickening sound, like wet meat being squished, sounded and Claire tucked her gun away and unslung her grenade launcher. She knew that sound all too well.

Sure enough, in the dark, Claire saw not one, but two yellow arms of Bandersnatches taking hold of a statue and a tree. The arms pulled the beasts into the garden. Claire jumped back to put distance between her and the monsters, then aimed the launcher and fired.

The crimson painted shell she loaded earlier buried itself in the gut of the first creature, then exploded, sending liquid flames everywhere. The flaming creature roared from the massive wound and collapsed to slowly burn.

"_Napalm,_" Claire realized. "_Cool!_"

The second Bandersnatch was doused in a few of the flames. It let out it's throaty yell and swiped at Claire, who narrowly dodged it. It's claw shattered a stone cross that she had been standing next to. She ran to the staircase that led to the residence and ran up a few of them. Claire's fingers were used to the action of reloading the launcher, and had another crimson shell in the gun within a few seconds. She fired from the staircase, blowing a hole in the second Bandersnatch and bathing it in flames.

With the creatures disposed of, Claire ejected the empty shell as she reached the top of the stairs. The empty 40 millimeter shell bounced with a hollow metallic sound down the stairs. She slung the launcher back over her shoulder and reached the door to the residence.

"_Great, no lighter this time,_" Claire griped. "_At least I won't see those creepy dolls again._"

Being in the residence in almost complete darkness would be bad, but Claire took it over the dozens of soulless dolls staring at her. Claire wrenched open the door and pulled out her Beretta.

The residence was still almost pitch black. Claire took a step in the direction of the staircase she knew was there and froze. A low moan floated through the darkness. Claire pointed her gun, but couldn't see anything.

"_Crap, they got in here too!_" she realized. Her most useful sense now blind, she would have to use her other four. "_C'mon, one more moan...one more moan for mommy..._"

The moan floated out again, this time closer, and Claire saw a hint of movement in the darkness. She swept her gun towards the sound and fired twice. The muzzle flash lit up the room briefly. She saw the zombie in front of her, too close for comfort. Luckily, the second shot went through it's forehead, and Claire heard it drop in the dark.

Careful not to trip on the body in the dark, Claire made her way to the stairs. Her eyes were slowly adjusting, and they could even make out the faint outline of the steps. As she walked along the balcony towards the bedrooms, she saw a second zombie on the landing. Claire fired twice again, and the muzzle flash illuminated the room, giving Claire the unpleasant view of the zombie's head gushing a thick wave of blood as well as the large suspended doll hanging by the balcony.

She entered the bedroom corridor cautiously. It looked like neither of the Ashfords were home. If they were, they would have reacted to the shots. Claire turned left in the corridor and went to Alfred's room. She saw the music box with the blue gems, fished the ant out of her pocket, and placed it in the indentation.

The music box opened, but nothing happened. Claire frowned, then noticed that there was no music plate in the box. Remembering how the other box functioned, she left the room and jogged into Alexia's room. The plate was easy enough to remove. Claire simply removed the cotter pin holding the plate down and lifted it out. She jogged back through the corridor to Alfred's room and set the plate in the music box. It began to play.

As the irritating song played, the canopy over the four poster bed lowered. Like the one in Alexia's room, there was a ladder attached to it. Unlike Alexia's, the hole in the ceiling it led to wasn't sealed. Claire eagerly climbed up the ladder.

Oddly enough, Claire popped up in the middle of a small carousel.

"Weird," she muttered as she hoisted herself out of the room. "Bet a lot of people don't have these in their houses."

The carousel sat in a circular room. All around the room was useless clutter: old toys and trunks of clothes. Claire got off the motionless carousel and began to walk around the room, On the pillar that the carousel revolved around was another ladder. It ended abrupt in the ceiling.

Now, Claire noticed that the ceiling above her was actually a balcony. There was another stub of ladder on the other side of the pillar.

"_So, I have to rotate the carousel,_" she thought, having no idea how to do just that.

Claire walked around the carousel again, looking for anything that might help her get up to the balcony. The only thing she found of merit was the drawing of a large ant on a blank wall. There was a hole in it's mandibles that looked suspiciously like a key hole, but Claire didn't have anything to stick in it.

On her second lap around the room, a glint of gold caught Claire's eye. Sitting on a chair was a tiny jeweled dragonfly. Claire picked it up and admired the detail. She noticed a few scratches along the tail, and the tail itself had notched ridges on it.

"_Just like a key_!"

Claire brought the dragonfly to the picture of the ant, and tried to stick it in the whole. The wings prevented it from going in. Claire frowned, thinking, then remembered the home movie and what the Ashford twins had done. Claire plucked the crystalline wings off one by one. She stuck it in again, and this time it fit perfectly. The carousel began to move.

"_Grrr..._" Claire thought as the familiar melody played this time, a la carnival.

The carousel stopped rotating, and the ladders aligned. Claire scurried up them and into the balcony. The balcony housed a small library. There were bookshelves on either side of a desk on the semicircle platform. Claire slowly looked around, not wanting to miss anything.

On a small foot stool lay a yellowed newspaper clipping. Claire picked it up and read it.

**A 10 year old girl genius graduated at the top of her class from a prestigious university. The international corporation, Umbrella Chemical Inc., offered the position of head researcher...**

Claire recognized the faded girl in the picture as Alexia Ashford.

"_10 years old and graduated from college? And Umbrella gave her a position as _head researcher" Claire thought amazed. There was no way that could be true. No one is _that_ smart.

Claire tossed the clip back and resumed searching. There was nothing but an old type writer on the desk. After examining a large display case full of displayed butterflies, Claire noticed a wedge of paper sticking out from on top of it. She stretched up on the tips of her toes, but didn't even come close to reaching it, even when she jumped.

Claire opted to shove and old trunk in front of the display case. Standing on it, she was able to pull the paper down. She brushed off a layer of dust and read it.

**Alexia, my sister, is a genius and possesses unmatched beauty. She is everything to me...Together, we will restore our family name...I cannot allow the unwashed to see my dear Alexia, to whom my life is devoted. She reigns the world as queen, with I as her servant...All other people are meaningless, and they shall prostrate themselves before Alexia and I.**

**Devoted to my beloved Alexia,**

**Alfred Ashford**

"_Jeez,_" Claire thought, disgusted by the demented letter. "_Obsessed much?_"

Claire discarded the letter and reached up to feel around. Her hand closed around an object. Claire could hardly contain her excitement when she saw what it was. It was another hexagonal key to the airport. It had a blue stone and a jet etched into it.

"_Yes! Finally, a way out!_ _Now I just gotta find Steve._"

Claire hopped off the trunk and stowed the final key in her pack. She climbed down the first ladder and back onto the carousel. The hole she climbed through to get up to the hidden room was gone, but a new one had opened when the carousel turned.

Claire climbed down the ladder and found herself in Alexia's bedroom, not Alfred's. She made a B-line for the door. As she got to it, she heard the sound of grating stone. She turned to see what it was as a woman's voice spoke.

"Claire Redfield, hold it right there!"

Suddenly standing in the room was the beautiful Alexia Ashford. The elegant blond woman was still wearing her purple evening dress and long white gloves.

In her hands was a sniper rifle, which was leveled at Claire's chest.


	20. Chapter 20

Alexia flashed a sinister smile as she held the rifle on Claire. She had caught her cold. Claire didn't have her handgun readied; she had stuck it in the back of her jeans when she climbed down the ladder.

"We meet each other at last," Alexia crowed, taking a few steps closer to Claire. "A pity I must say good-bye so soon."

She hoisted the rifle to her shoulder.

"I am Alexia Ashford," she proclaimed. "For the pride of the Ashford family, I will kill you!"

Claire's eyes widened. The threat was real. She jumped to the side as the high caliber rifle sang out. The bullet whizzed past her head and buried itself in the door behind her. 

Claire hit the ground hard. The noise of the rifle was deafening in the small bedroom. She fumbled for her gun, but her panicked hands only knocked it from the back of her jeans. It fell to the floor, just out of reach.

Alexia had already pulled the bolt back on the rifle. The empty cartridge spiraled out, and Alexia thrust the bolt forward and locked it down, chambering a fresh round into the gun. Once again she raised it and pointed it at Claire, now helplessly cowering in front of the desk. There was cold resolve in Alexia's eyes.

"Wait!" Claire pleaded.

The bedroom door burst open.

"What's going on?"

Alexia whirled and leveled her rifle at Steve, who had just barged into the bedroom. Surprise crossed his face briefly, but he raised both of his Ingrams, arms crossed. Alexia fired first. With another deafening roar and a ping of metal, Claire heard the bullet ricochet. Steve fell back with a cry. He let fly a volley of gunfire from one of his weapons as he fell. Alexia jerked and clutched her shoulder with a scream of pain. There was a spurt of crimson.

"Steve!" cried Claire. 

She got to her feet, but just as she leaned to help Steve, she heard the sound of grating stone again. She looked to the source and saw a decorative stone engraving of a woman move back into place. It was easily six feet tall, just the right hight for a person. 

"A secret door!"

Steve groaned in pain.

"After her!" he said through gritted teeth. He quickly got to his feet, clutching his right upper arm with his left hand, his Ingrams still clutched tightly in his grasp. Claire saw a small red smear of blood on his knuckles.

"Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," he said, straightening. "It's just a scratch." 

He bolted ahead to the stone engraving with Claire right behind him, after she retrieved her Beretta. He pushed it and the engraving rotated, making a gap that led to the adjacent bedroom. Both of them lunged into the bedroom, weapons drawn. Alexia was nowhere in sight. Steve grumbled to himself and dropped to the floor then began looking under the bed.

There was blood spatter on the floor. Alexia had indeed been hit in Steve's wild barrage of gunfire. Claire kept her Beretta in front of her. There weren't many places to hide in the other bedroom, and yet Alexia had vanished. 

There was a crumpled shade of purple on the bed. Although Claire had lowered the canopy, it was raised again. Probably something to do with the carousel system above them. On the bed was Alexia's dress, stained with blood.

"_What, is she naked now?_" Claire thought bewildered. "_Why would she have taken off her dress?_"

Claire's attention was soon drawn from the dress to a splash of gold on the music box. Steve got up from under the bed, empty handed. Claire squinted at the thing on the music box. It was a clump of...

"..._hair?_"

Sure enough, Alexia's gorgeous golden locks were on the music box in a tangled mess.

"This must be-"

A contorted, furious battle cry erupted from somewhere above them. Alfred jumped from his hiding spot on top of the bed's canopy, aiming the butt of his rifle at Claire. She just narrowly dodged it. Alfred's heavy gun struck the edge of the music box, breaking off a decorated corner. Steve stepped in between Alfred and Claire, shielding Claire with his body. Alfred swung the rifle again. Steve ducked and kicked Alfred as he raised the gun to smash it on his head. Alfred hit the wall with a dull thunk and slid down it. Steve raised both of his Ingrams, leveling them at Alfred's chest.

Alfred gave a few whimpers as a very frightening looking Steve held him at gunpoint. Claire looked closer. He was wearing eyeshadow and lipstick, with just a hint of foundation. Claire opened her mouth in surprise.

"_What the...?_"

Alfred's shoulder was drenched in blood, just where Alexia had been hit.

Alfred slowly got to his feet, stuttering and holding his rifle loosely in his hand. He propped is arm against the wall, recovering from Steve's assault. He caught sight of himself in the window that overlooked the outer hall. He saw his face, with a faint image of Steve and Claire behind him. He reached up, horrified at the translucent reflection of himself.

"W-What? No!" He let out a few mindless syllables, then his eyes bulged. Alfred let out an animal like cry of pain mixed with confusion, then bolted out of the room. His anguished cry faded, leaving Claire and Steve both confused.

"Wait a second...what just happened?" asked Steve, half to Claire, half to no one.

The answer hit Claire. The wig, the dress, Alfred's makeup, it all made sense.

"So...there never was an Alexia after all!" Claire said slowly. The very thought of it sounded stupid, but it was the only thing that made sense. She had heard of split personalities in college, but she never thought she'd actually meet someone with the condition, and with such a severe case.

"You mean, he thinks he's two people?" Steve asked incredulously. Claire nodded, her own mouth still hanging open in surprise. "Okay, that's it! Let's get out of here!"

Claire was about to agree and state that she had all three airport keys when a shrill alarm began to ring out. Starting low, then going high, it shrieked again and again. Echoes from outside the residence hinted that the facility was covered in them. A cool, collected voice spoke through loudspeakers:

"_The self destruct system has been activated. All personnel evacuate immediately._"

"That freak!" Steve spat over the recorded loop. "He's trying to blow us up along with the entire facility!" He looked at Claire. "C'mon, we gotta get to that airport."

"Right!"

Claire followed Steve as he took off through the door. Her pulse quickened. How long did they have before the facility exploded? Surely, the coward he was, Alfred would have given himself enough time to escape. But unlike them, he would know the fastest way off the base. They had to be quick. 

Steve led the way, his Ingrams always ready in case Alfred was waiting for them around the corner, ready to put a round into their heads. They ran down the stairs in the residence, almost tripping down it in the dark, then out into the statue spotted garden. The night was getting colder, and the mist that was enshrouding the residence had since gotten thicker.

The alarms still wailed from all around them. Claire saw faint red lights winking on and off on various parts of the facility. Normally, Claire would have bet that sirens would have created a mass exodus of employees from the facility. However, the undead that were now the employees would pay no heed of the warning of the impending explosion.

Claire and Steve ran over the bodies of the zombies that Claire had previously gunned down on the wooden walkway. Back in the warmer air of the ruined office, red lights flashed on and off as they dashed through the gold Luger door. Down the decorative stairs and ignoring a few stray zombies lurking in the palace lobby, they ran outside.

"Claire!" Steve said suddenly, then pointed to the sky. A low roar began to creep over the sound of the wailing alarms. Several airplanes were overhead, low to the surface. "Those must be the remaining survivors."

"We'd better get out of here too," said Claire.

"Right! Let's go!"

Claire's pulse quickened yet again. Their time was running out. Steve ran ahead again, pushing open the gate that led to the submarine pen. As soon as they got to the platform, Steve spun the wheel, calling the submarine to the surface. They jumped down the ladder and Claire threw the switch. A brief underwater ride later, they reached the airport dock. 

They ran down the steps towards the boarding platform. The walking dead that Claire had shot earlier didn't get up as they sprinted through the waiting room and into the doorway to the boarding platform. Claire fished the three hexagonal items from her side pack as, then placed them into the holes on the elevators panel in no particular order. When the last one was set, the red light flashing turned a pleasant green. Claire smashed the button and the elevator jerked, then swung towards the plane on to hydraulic pistons. Steve leaned over the side of the lift and released the latch on the plane, then swung the hatch down. The inside of the hatch had steps, which made boarding the plane easy.

Steve literally jumped into the pilot's seat and began throwing switches. Claire was relieved that he knew how to fly a plane. After flipping a few more switches, he slammed his fists down on the control panel.

"No!" he shouted angrily. "We can't take off unless we raise the bridge!" He pointed through the windshield at the bridge in front of them, blocking their water runway. Claire leaned over his shoulder.

"Leave that to me," she said. "You stay here and make the preparations for take off!"

Adjusting her grenade launcher more snugly over her shoulder, she hopped back on the lift, then rode it to the boarding platform. She didn't bother running around the desk in the waiting room; she just hopped over it, knocking various bits of stationary to the floor. Through the shutter, she ran across the bridge that she hopefully would soon be raising. In the cavern, the alarms seemed even louder.

Claire looked left and saw the plane, then Steve in the window, still busily preparing the plane. She passed through the next shutter, and into the warehouse.

"_The controls must be on the second level!_" she thought as she ran through the dark warehouse. 

The frustrating moans of the zombie workers on the elevator followed her as she stepped on the small lift and road it to the crane's control booth, where hours earlier she moved the crate using the lifting arm.. Sure enough, there was a door in the back of the booth. Claire burst through it and found herself standing on a small platform. There was a drop in front of her, and a lever to her right. The lever was pointed down, so Claire pulled it up.

"_Yes!_"

The bridge raised, clearing the way. It settled with a clank on her level. Claire was about to turn and run back to the plane when she realized how badly she just screwed herself. She had just raised the very bridge she crossed; she was now cut off from the plane.

Claire cursed, then began to rack her brain for an alternate route to the plane. Steve would wait for her, he had too. She didn't want to be the one that cause their deaths. 

"_Think...think! Dammit, these alarms are annoying as fu...Wait, elevator!_"

Back in the crane control booth, Claire saw the letters EV painted in white on the wall of the warehouse. It was an elevator. Hopefully, it led to a path to the plane. Claire rode the lift down to the main floor of the warehouse. She almost dismayed at the thick gate over the elevator doors, but was relieved to see a set of keys in a panel next to it labeled "K-402."

Claire twisted the key, and the gate raised. Grunting with effort, she raised the metal shutter that had slid down behind it. A horrible, grinding metal sound was emanating from the small room. Claire immediately saw why. The elevator, a large freight one easily ten square feet, had several crates wedged underneath the door. The door was lowering onto the crates, bashing into them, then raising back up only to lower and repeat the whole process over.

A brief, frantic pushing session later, and the crates were out from underneath the door, allowing it to shut all the way. Claire smashed the button labeled "surface," and the elevator began to rise.

Seconds later, the cool female voice spoke through a speaker.

"_Five minutes until detonation._"

Claire swallowed hard. Her plan was to make it to the surface, then run like hell back to the submarine elevator. She would be doing a big circle. As confident as she was in her athletic abilities, five minutes would be cutting it close.

What seemed like an eternity later, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Claire was relieved to see the entrance courtyard to the Military Training Facility. The giant worm that had taken up residence was nowhere in sight.

"_Maybe the self destruct scared it away,_" Claire thought absently as she began to sprint towards the cliff side passage towards the palace. She rounded the corner, and as she ran, an explosion erupted behind her, throwing her clean off her feet and into the dirt several feet away.

Claire's head swam as she spit out the dirt from her mouth. All she heard was a high pitched ringing in her ears. Weakly, she turned around and saw the source of the explosion, or rather, what was left of it.

Several barrels of unknown contents had caught fire and were slowly burning. Had Claire been by a few seconds later, she would have been enveloped in the explosion. She started to get back to her feet.

As she did, the boarded down gate near the end of the walkway was thrown off it's hinges. A large, spike covered appendage retracted from the opening. A thick, muscular leg stepped out of the fire from the other side. Claire's eyes widened in horror as a torso appeared, then another arm, and finally a head.

The creature emerging from the fire was eight feet tall, easily, if not ten. It was humanoid, but the body was out of proportion. Thick muscles held in by gray skin and what seemed like rocky armor bulged from every angle. It had no hands, only big rock like balls studded with bony spikes. It stared without emotion at Claire with dull white eyes turned orange by the fire. It turned towards Claire and began to slowly advance.

Claire's heart jumped to her throat. It was one of Umbrella's Tyrant class B.O.W's, and it was coming to kill her.


End file.
